Against the Grain
by walkingwithgiants
Summary: *Hiatus* as you can tell In the words of Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." Everything in life happens for a reason...right?
1. Prologue

Hi guys! Well, I've been busy as hell and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write but after several attempts and start-and-stops- I've managed to come up with something I feel committed to. I'm about fourteen chapters in on my outline, so the inspiration is here. Thank you, Jesus! My goal is to get a chapter out every week or two. Pleaseee bear with me. I will be taking down the other story I started and then just quit because (just being real) I lost it with that one. Here's my prologue. I love reviews :) Thank you guys for being awesome. As always, no BETA but I'm going to have to look into finding one since I'm gonna trudge through this. I apologize for my mistakes in advance.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters.

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I leaned over the sink, wiping the cool towel over my neck and chest. My body was on fire after the last dance, and my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest and crash to the tile floor in the bathroom. I started mentally replaying the way his eyes lingered over me and how his fingers grazed my lower back as he pulled me against him. I sighed, realizing the wet towel would do nothing to stop the heat that crept across my clammy skin from the brief contact with him.

The door thudded in response to someone knocking and I sighed, only managing to open the door a crack before I was pushed back sternly by a large hand. I immediately recognized the bronze hair in sharp contrast against the white of the wall, as the door to the bathroom closed. "What's wrong?" I whispered.

His eyes were a deep green and hooded as he looked me over for the second time that night, making me feel naked under his gaze. He stayed quiet, only licking his lips in response to my question. "What's wrong?" he repeated my question, pushing off the wall. His eyes flickered over my face and down to my chest, and I sucked in a breath as he closed the distance between us.

I took a step back, only to meet the wall. _Why did the bathroom suddenly feel so small?_ I was nervous and my heart started beating that much more furiously as he stood only inches away from me with his intense glare focused on my face. "Did I do something wrong?"

He laughed, so deep and rich I felt wrapped in it. "Did you do something wrong?" he asked, smirking. He raised his palms to rest on each of the sides of the wall around me, trapping me against the wall, and only inches away from his arms on each side of me and his chest. I could smell the sweet, clean scent of his body again and had to fight the urge to whimper at his proximity. "You don't realize what you do most of the time." He leaned forward, so his face was only an inch or so away from mine and his eyes became that much darker. "Wonder Woman, Bella? Really? You thought your costume would be cute and innocent? That it wouldn't be as dirty and provocative as a Playboy Bunny? Or as naughty as a Cat?_ A fucking_ _pussy_?"

"I like Wonder Woman." sI whispered. I wondered if he could hear my heart hammering against my chest since he was so close.

He smirked again. "Oh, I know..." He licked his lips and lowered his nose so it grazed against the column of my neck. _Fuck. _"Every guy in that room is looking at you, Bella, thinking about sweet innocent, little Wonder Woman spread eagle in front of them. You know that?" I could feel him inhaling my scent, the warmth radiating from his skin onto mine causing me to break into goosebumps. My panties getting ridiculously wet from his scent and body heat alone. He continued the trail of his nose centimeters away from my throat until he groaned. "You don't even like being the center of attention."

I could feel my nipples hardening under the sweetheart top of my costume. "I don't like it when people look at me."

He chuckled so quietly I almost didn't hear it. He started breathing hard against my neck, his sweet warm breath making me tingle from head to toe. He dropped to his elbows, so his forearms were resting against the wall now, sandwiching me between the wall behind me and _oh my god,_ his extremely, warm hard body. He growled. "Me neither."


	2. You Need Not Climb

Oh goodness, I know I said I would post once a week but I got a little excited and since I won't be going forward with "Ouroborous" I borrowed and edited a chapter. Eek. Thank you to those who graciously added my story to your alert. I love it! My boyfriend is still on tour for another 10 days so I'm going to try my best and hustle out as much as I can before he gets back. Still no beta, my mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

I was going to rip my hair out.

It would grow back, right? Eventually?

I quickly thought through the many years that I had let my prized hair grow out and suddenly didn't give a shit. Better to rip out every strand of hair on my scalp rather than go to jail for murder when I killed James with whatever sharp object I came in contact with first.

A groan escaped my lips when I heard James play the wrong chord. Again. Again. And Again. I was trying not to lose my temper as I glared at the blond sitting beside me as he moved his guitar off his lap and onto a nearby stand, mumbling something his breath.

He turned to look at me frowning and placed his elbows on his knees, hanging his head. Probably in shame but he fucking deserved it. Glancing at my watch, I realized that it was already almost seven and that we had been sitting in this room for the last seven hours and had only managed to record thirty seconds of his song. Thirty fucking seconds. "Dude, we need a break or I'm going to scream."

"Yeah, I figured." He didn't even bother to look at me, he just sat there pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with me today."

I shrugged. "Chill out. I know you're probably even more frustrated than I am but you'll get it... eventually." I frowned at myself. "I sure as hell hope it's sooner rather than later." I stood up and looked around the console for my keys as James got up and began unplugging his guitar and turning off the equipment. Finally finding my keys stashed against his backpack, I rolled my shoulders trying to relax. "I'm getting out of here for awhile and clear my head. See you back at 9?"

He nodded indifferently and followed me out of the recording space and through the kitchen, turning off all the lights. For some reason my light bill here was more than it was at my condo. Probably because I spent more time here than anywhere else. Pausing to steal a glance at my thermostat that read 70 degrees, I winced and brought it up to 75. The idea of spending a few hundred dollars on a light bill just didn't really appeal to me.

Locking the door behind us, I just waved James off as we headed in opposite directions. I had grown to really like the balance between my two worlds, my life here at the studio in my old ass building and my home for the last four years. Whenever I got frustrated at one place, the other was just a walk away on the opposite side of Lincoln Park.

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and pressed the power button to turn it back on. It just wasn't professional to leave my phone on during a session. That shit would piss me off if I was paying someone a few thousand dollars to record something I put my blood, sweat, and tears into. It only took about a minute before my phone started beeping with various text messages being received. I should just be grateful they were text messages and not voicemails. I hated those things. After my phone stopped beeping, I looked up to make sure I wasn't going to run into anyone, and started reading my messages from the most recent one.

The last one was from Emmett at 6:45 p.m.- _ Are you still sucking some dick?_

Wow.

Next one was from Alice at 6 p.m.- _!At ur place! _

Was today Emmett's birthday? I asked myself and realized that in fact, it was next month. Erase. It wasn't unusual for Alice to come over and hang out with Em at all but why she would be letting me know she was there was...weird. I mean, afterall, she lived across the fucking hall.

How those living arrangements even came to be, I still could not understand.

The last one- or in this case the first one that I received was from my favorite half bear-half man at 3 p.m.- _I ate your leftovers. They were fucking delicious._

I shouldn't even be surprised or upset that my chicken parmesan was now probably in the greater city of Chicago's sewer system after Emmett's world-renowned toilet christening.

Pulling myself out of my daze, I realized I was only about two blocks away from the highrise. There were more people than usual walking on the street but it was a good night out and there were a bunch of cafes around this neighborhood. Slipping my phone back into my back pocket, I cracked my knuckles and started rolling up the sleeves to my button up. Without anything to hold my attention, I fixated my gaze on the random people milling around the street and smiled at a blonde with big tits heading in the opposite direction with a smile of her own. She smirked when she saw my eyes wander up the length of her body but who wouldn't look at her when her tits were practically spilling out of her tight ass tank top and her tiny white shorts told the world she had to be wearing a thong. I crooked a smile at her now that she was only a few feet away from me and I could see her lick her bottom lip and raise an eyebrow as we passed each other. I didn't bother turning around to look at her because there wouldn't be anything there worth wasting my energy on. Her ass was most assuredly falling out of her shorts but girls like that dressed to get those reactions out of men. Not that I wouldn't give her a fucking pounding if she asked me to but I shrugged to myself.

I rounded the last corner and glanced at my watch again, 7:20. I prayed silently to myself that the Alice had ordered take-out for dinner and thought of her beloved older brother while doing so. There _were_ perks to having your sister live across and down the hall in her own apartment. It also helped me sleep better at night knowing that she was so close by.

Pulling open the door to the lobby, I nodded a hello to Sam, the front desk security, who put up a palm in greeting as I headed straight for the elevators. The doors opened almost instantly after I pressed the up button, hoping for some quiet sanity at home. The door chimed open and I pulled my keys out of my pocket, straining to hear if there was any noise coming from inside. Turning the lock, I pushed open my front door to hear Alice's loud braying donkey laugh resonating through my apartment.

"Jesus Alice, did Mom and Dad find you on a farm?" I muttered walking into the living room to find her sitting cross-legged on the floor with my Macbook in her lap, while Emmett's massive frame was draped over the couch as they watched what looked to be America's Funniest Home Videos.

She broke her concentration from the television to peer at me with a smug look on her face. "Shut. Up."

Emmett tore his focus away from the television for a brief second to nod at me in greeting. "You are seriously missing out. They had this dog who would not get out of the house, he kept putting his paw down so his owner couldn't push him out. It was epic."

"I can only imagine." I said sliding onto the couch, flexing my feet. "Did you guys eat..."

"I left you an order of sweet and sour chicken from Eastern in the fridge. I just knew you hadn't eaten any dinner." Alice finished my sentence, her short black hair bobbing while she spoke, while her eyes were still glued to the television.

"I don't deserve you, Alice." I nearly fucking cooed like a baby with happiness as I pushed myself back off the couch and towards the adjoining open kitchen. I got my white box out of the fridge and put it in the microwave, while looking at Alice and Emmett in the living room. "Any luck finding a new roommate, Turtle?"

Alice spared herself a second to glare at me for my use of the nickname that she detested. Even when we were little kids, Alice never hid behind anything or conformed herself and her ideas to anyone, her skin was tough as a shell because she refused to change for anyone but she continued to be the sweetest girl in the world. Although I called her that out of respect when we were younger, she would cry and ask our Mom if she was fat. Because turtles are fat. Forget that they aren't actually fat and just have a thick shell. _Nooo_, turtles are fat.

"Actually.. yes!" The show went on commercial, breaking her out of her trance. She clapped her hands excitedly. "She's going to be perfect! We spoke over iChat today and went over..."

If I would have food in my mouth, I would have spit it out. "You spoke over...iChat? Like the video messaging on my Mac?"

"Uh, yeah." she shrugged, giving me a look that could only be interpreted that I had grown three heads in split seconds.

"Please tell me you've met her in person before....wait a minute. It's a girl right?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Yes, she's a girl and no, I haven't met her in person. She's actually went to college with Angela... you remember Angela right? My coworker? Well anyway, she's moving here from Phoenix." She shuddered with enthusiasm, which was completely Alice. "She's going to be amazingggg." She sang.

I pulled my food out of the microwave and sat at the counter, eating. Anything with juices or sauce was not allowed on the couch for fear of staining my very expensive microsuede furniture. "Hmm. Well you better start locking your bedroom from now on."

"Whatever. She's not _her_, Edward." I didn't wince anymore at the mention of _her. _ "I already know she's going to fit right in." Her dark eyes narrowed in my direction as a very curious and creepy smile spread over her face. "_You _are going to_ love_ her."

I snorted. "I highly doubt that."

"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like." she quoted before cackling with laughter.

"You were adopted. From a mental facility."

"This coming from OCD incarnate? Mister-my-food-can't-touch?" Alice laughed again reminding me of a donkey.

I grabbed the nearest orange and threw it lightly at her, pegging her in the shoulder to get a a cry in response. I looked at Emmett who had stayed surprisingly quiet the entire time, and noticed he was hunched over his phone. "Are you looking at gay porn again on your phone?"

He snapped out of his gaze and grinned broadly. "Uh, no. Your Mom..." Alice threw the orange at Emmett's large head to silence him from continuing whatever gross joke about our Mom he was going to go into. "Nevermind."

I polished off the sweet and sour chicken and yawned. "When did you say your roommate was moving in?"

Alice's eyes were glued on the show again. "I didn't say when, Edward. She'll be here next week."

"Okay, well let me know so I can make sure not to be here."

She sighed. "I don't know why you're such a prick sometimes."

I did.


	3. Mountaintops

Another one! A big thanks again to those who have added my story as an alert and review. Yay! I promise to have the next chapter out as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, I just like to borrow S.M.'s.

* * *

...Bella...

It constantly amazes me how strong the human heart is.

How can a muscle the size of my fist, weighing only eleven ounces, be the single most important organ in life?

It's not because the heart pumps blood throughout the human body but because of the magnitude and strength that it is blessed with. Your heart is a _fighter_. It fights for you every second of your life, no matter the trauma. All it needs is a little love and care.

Staring at the deep green front door to my home, my heart was beating in the cavity of my chest reminding me of the blood and life that flowed through my veins, courtesy of it. Watching the screen door shut for the last time in my life, I bit my bottom lip.

This was goodbye.

There had been too many goodbyes in my life and at the same time, not enough. I yearned for closure and this is all I would get.

An all-too familiar dread crept across my skin as my eyes scanned the sharp contrast of the white paint of the siding and the porch. The white porch swing I had spent countless nights on reading while Dad smoked on the porch. The wooden steps I used to sit on, waiting for Dad to drive up in his cruiser with a cigarette eagerly balanced on his lips.

It was a beautiful tragedy that some of my most distinct memories involved my Dad smoking.

Now this home would involve another family's distinct and treasured memories. I suddenly felt a pressure in my chest as I let my mind wander towards more memories of my parents in this home. Or of what used to be my home. All that was left of the small, cozy home of my childhood was an empty shell of what it used to be. The sanctuary of happiness that held together my upbringing had turned into just a dwelling to sleep and cook in.

I couldn't help but look one last time at my quiet, creaky house. It seemed funny to me now how different these walls seemed, how _heartless_ this house that I grew up in was without my parents. This is what Charlie wanted me to do, right? Renee always told me that life was too short, which now seemed like such strange and sad coincidence since her life was ended so soon.

I swallowed back the tears that were bullying me into a submission of sadness. I spent almost a year of my life trying to make this house my home again but all it did were remind me of what I had lost and would never get back. I had taken all I could from these walls; my parents love and strength lived on in me and not through the sheetrock.

Getting into my car, I reversed out of the driveway and couldn't help but look at my childhood home one last time in the rearview mirror.

My phone chimed in the same instant I couldn't see the blurry image of my home anymore. Flipping open my phone, ALICE lit up on the screen.

**Be safe!**

The moment that Angela recommended moving in with her coworker, Alice Cullen, I just got a good feeling. After speaking with her over the phone and hearing her squeal followed by the deepest guttural laugh I've ever heard in my life- I just knew I was doing the right thing. Daily conversations and a few video chats later, the plan was set in stone that I would move into her vacant second bedroom and she set herself to help me find a job.

This would be my second chance.

Not that I would want it if I had the choice.

But... I didn't have the choice, so I was going to make the best out of what I had.

Three nights, twenty-seven hours worth of driving, and more pee-stops than I could count later, my Tom-Tom was counting down the few hundred feet to my new building.

I followed Alice's instructions carefully, finding the garage and parking spot that were assigned to us and pulled in between an ice blue Acura and a large Infinity. Getting out of the car as quickly as I could, my body immediately protested the movement and my joints locked up at the same time my muscles screamed in protest. It'd been more than two hours since my last stop.. and I wasn't _that _young anymore, damnit.

I tugged my purse out of the backseat, deciding that I would just come back to my car and grab my few belongings out once I figured out where the hell I was going. Recognizing the outline of an elevator, I walked as quickly as my stiff joints would allow me towards the doors. The elevator opened and I stepped in, pressing the button a little more eagerly than I should.

It didn't hit me till then that my palms were all sweaty.

And I probably smelled like shit.

I didn't brush my teeth after the mac snack wrap I bought at the half gas station, half McDonalds I stopped at last. Then I remembered that I chased it down with a cherry coke and...

_The Funyuns._ Fuuuuuuck.

The ride seemed slower than it should have, as I fished through my purse for some gum. I stepped out and relayed to myself the instructions Alice had given me a few weeks ago. They were eternally etched in my mind because I had read the e-mail at least twenty times over the last few days, as if the instructions would simply vanish and I'd be left stranded.

Walking, I dialed Alice's number and swear it only rang once before her breathy voice came over. "You're here??!"

"Yes ma'am, I'm walking towards the...lobby right now." Then she squealed so loudly I had to pull the phone away from me, laughing.

"I'm on my way down!"

I had just made to the lobby and spotted the security guard sitting behind an elegant marble area. It couldn't have been twenty seconds later before I got the air knocked out of me and had two strong arms wrapped around me my waist and a face buried in my boobs.

"Bella! You're here!" she squeezed me again and I squeezed her back before she decided to repeat the action because frankly, she did it so tightly I was surprised I didn't fart from the pressure....and the McDonalds from earlier.

The woman was just as small as her delicate features indicated but my god, she had a death grip around my mid section. Her short dark hair was buried against my chest and I couldn't help but start laughing at the immediate exuberance radiating from her small body. "I'm here!"

I wrestled loose and squeezed her tightly to my chest one last time. It had been so long since someone had given me a hug like that, and this someone I didn't really know but...I wanted to.

She pulled back and looked at me for the first time in person, and I was surprised by the intense blue eyes that seemed to burn a hole right through me. Her cute elfin features were lit up, as she smiled one of those genuine grins. She put her hands on my cheeks and sighed. "You don't know how long we've been waiting for you."

I wanted to ask her who else had been waiting for me but she pulled me towards another set of elevator doors and the interrogation began.

"How was your trip? Did you eat? Where are your bags? What do you need to buy? Do you need me to let you borrow anything? What size shoes do you wear? Please tell me you like to go shopping! But if you don't, it's okay! Did I tell you how happy I'm glad that you're here?" she squeezed me with one arm around my waist. The elevator opened and she slipped her arm through mine, practically dragging me down the hall.

"Umm.. my trip was great. I only have a few suitcases in my car because I pretty much sold everything in Phoenix. I already forgot what else you asked me," I apologized, my face turning pink as I laughed nervously.

The tiny female gave me a crooked smile, slowing down as she passed a particular door on our right and gave it a kick with her heel as she proceeded to another door, a little further down on the left. "I'm sorry Bella, I'm just being...overwhelming, as my brother likes to put it. You can tell me everything later."

We paused in front of the door and she gripped my hand, palm up, dropping a key into it. "Welcome home, Bella," she sang.

I gave her a little smile and couldn't help but give this practically unknown person, my new roommate, a side hug. I could tell she was an aggressively affectionate person but I knew I needed that contact with humanity. I unlocked the door, unable to wipe the stupid, excited smile off of my face and exhaled loudly.

The apartment was larger than I imagined, very open and sparsely decorated; the dark mahogany furniture, chocolate sofa, bright orange walls and warm-colored linens just gave me a warm feeling and I immediately loved what I could see. "Alice...this...is...your apartment?"

"Our apartment, darling. Ours. What's mine is yours, and I think one day, you'll feel the same towards me." She looked up at me with wide glacial eyes and squeezed my elbow. I tried to take everything in as she pulled me through the living room, eyeing the kitchen on my right, before stopping abruptly in front of another door. "This is your room."

She pushed open the door to the empty bedroom and I smiled for what seemed like the hundredth time that hour. The room looked just like any other empty, white room with two, large windows against the far wall but that familiar draw I felt walking through this place only intensified here, it felt natural when it should have been anything but. I reached out to clasp Alice's hand and squeezed it. "This is amazing. Seriously."

Alice snorted and threw her arms around me. She really was so small the top of her head grazed my chin. "We're going to be best friends, Bella," she stated.

Who was I to tell her otherwise?


	4. You Need Not Cross

I'm going to need anger management classes.

Soon.

"James!" I shouted.

The dirty blonde bastard was hunched over the microphone in the booth, singing and humming. Completely in his own fucking world. I had stopped recording the track almost a minute ago when he decided he was going to sing the same part over again.

Jesus fucking Christ.

"James!" I pressed the intercom again hoping that this useless asshole would pay enough attention to his surroundings to hear me because I really didn't feel like walking all of ten steps to the small booth he was in.

He now had both hands in his hair and his face was contorted and pinched together because apparently I guess he thought he was tapping into his inner Celine Dion or something. I took a deep breath, exasperated. I wouldn't really consider myself a hot head but this moron should have realized that the click track had stopped more than a minute ago.

"James!"

The blonde asshole finally, by some miracle of God, realized that I wasn't just screaming his name for the hell of it because his head snapped up to look at me and his face turned bright red. "Oh crap. Sorry dude." He took off his headphones and exited the small room giving me an apologetic smile.

"I had to stop the tracking because you were going off-key again and not even auto-tune can fix the majority of the damage, man." I ran a hand through my hair and pulled at the scalp. I left out a deep breath through my nostrils, irritated way more than usual.

He gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry dude. I don't know what's going on with me, my mind just isn't in the game today." James took a seat across from the panel where I was sitting. "My girlfriend is PMSing and it's just..."

I grimaced and threw a hand up to stop him from continuing. "I do not need to hear the end of that. There's a reason why I don't have a girlfriend."

James barked out a laugh and shrugged. "Can we just quit for the day and start up again tomorrow? I feel like today is just going to be a vicious circle of shit."

"Whatever you want, J. Just remember that we're on a time crunch, so you need to get your mind out of the clouds and hopefully your girlfriend gets off her rag, so we can get this done. Alright?" I put my fist up towards him, and we bumped knuckles. He gave me another apologetic smirk and started getting his stuff into his backpack.

I suddenly found myself at home with nothing to do. I had never really had a lot of friends, which I was perfectly okay with, but every once in awhile it really got to me. I could count my friends on one hand and I didn't even have to use all of my fingers. A note was posted on the refrigerator door in Alice's crazy cursive, "My beloved Fuck Face, we're all at Eclipse tonight breaking Bella (my roommate, you goldfish) into the big city. Meet us or I'll give you the indian rug burn of a lifetime. Love, Your Favorite Sister."

It sometimes amazes me that despite the fact that Alice has a cell phone and could easily call me or text me these things, she resorts to leaving me notes on the fridge. I glanced around the empty apartment and decided that one drink couldn't really kill me. Changing into a dark blue button down to escape the bad luck that the day seemed to put on my other shirt, I headed downstairs to my car to Eclipse.

In a shorter time than it took me to walk home from work, I had already parked and waved at the bouncer on my way into the bar. I immediately spotted Emmett in the corner at a table but detour towards the bar to get a drink before I was sucked into the madness that is my handful of friends. The bar was crowded for a Thursday night but I squeezed into a spot and waved at the blonde bartender behind the counter. She threw me a sly smile and put a finger to acknowledge me.

I was immediately assaulted by big brown eyes staring at me from the seat next to me, accusingly. "You've got to be kidding me." She scoffed.

"Can I...help you?"

The brown orbs narrowed at me, the rest of a face hidden behind a mess of wavy brown hair. "I've been sitting here for at least five minutes trying to get her attention and you sidle up right next to me, and within five seconds get her to look over here." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Maybe if I grow a dick and cut my hair, I can get some decent service."

I'm temporarily taken back by the bluntness of brown eyes but I can hear myself snort before I realize that I'm doing it. "That might work."

Brown eyes shrugs. "I can probably get it done by the time she decides she can come help me." The big irises turn back around to peer at the bartender and I'm stuck facing long brown hair again.

All I see for a moment are big brown eyes and long hair but I'm quickly facing a very well-endowed blonde on the opposite side of the bar.

"What can I get for you?" she tries to drawl but it just sounds like a chain smoker's tone of voice.

"Two Heineken and," I nudge Brown Eyes next to me who has such a dead stare locked on the rude blonde that she doesn't feel me elbowing her for a second. "What do you want?"

Her eyes turn to lock on mine and they crinkle in satisfaction. "Cranberry juice, please."

I snort for the second time in a night and the blonde's mouth drops open for a second and she turns around quickly. "Cranberry juice?" I start to absorb the features of Brown Eyes and see a heart shaped face framing smooth, pale skin. She's cute and her eyes are disarming. "You're at a bar drinking cranberry juice?"

She leans towards me. "I don't drink."

"I see. Are you in treatment?"

Brown eyes throws her head back and laughs, it reminds me of Alice's donkey laugh because it's uninhibited. It's also kind of deep. "God. No, man. I just don't drink."

"But you're at a bar..."

"I'm with new friends and they were so excited to take me to a bar I didn't have the heart to tell them I'd rather watch a movie." Brown eyes admits.

The blonde comes back with my two bottles and a small glass with the juice. Brown eyes starts sliding a bill towards the big-tit blonde but I wave her off. "I'm opening a tab, don't worry about it. I can respect cranberry juice."

Brown eyes smiles. "Well, thank you very much kind gentleman. Have a good night." She gets up and does a curtsy which only makes me laugh at the brunette again. After opening my tab, I make my way back over to where Emmett was sitting at.

The big beast grins and throws his hands up. "You were taking so long I thought you were doing more than just recording with James, cocksucker."

"Shut the fuck up." I laugh, clapping him on the back in greeting. The Heineken is slid across the table towards him and he chugs it down like a dehydrated man.

"Thanks. I've been waiting to get a drink because I'm on purse patrol," he points at the three wallets on the table. "But they're taking forever."

The music seems louder all of a sudden and I sip on my beer, looking towards the door for new people. A bird-like arm wraps around my neck in an attempted chokehold at the same time I get a kiss to the temple. "You came!" the voice I could recognize anywhere squeals in my ear and I get another wet kiss to the temple.

"I had nothing better to do."

She's in my face now, scowling. "Whatever. You don't have any friends, so duh."

I reach up to rub her crazy black hair but she dodges out of the way like a ninja. "C'mon Turtle..."

"I want you to meet, Bella." She turns around to reach in the direction of very familiar brown hair, and pulls the small brunette to face my direction. "Bella this is my brother, Edward."

Brown Eyes immediately stares at me, holding her cranberry juice near and dear to her chest. "Hey friend." She chokes out, turning red and I'm confused at the look that she gives Alice. Alice's eyes shift from her drink to my beer and back.

I know my sister well enough to recognize the dumb smile that spreads across her face before she quickly tries to contain it. She has the worst poker face in the entire world. I know she's too amused by something that she knows and I can only wonder what. "Hey Bella, what a coincidence."

The color on her face resembles a lobster's but she trudges through and thrusts out her hand. I shake her hand and the color is quickly draining from her face. "Nice to officially meet you. Thanks for the drink again." She tilts the glass and smiles. "I owe you one next time."

Alice's creep blue eyes are staring at us intently and it's weird. I reach out to grab my only sibling but her ninja-like skills help her evade me again and the next thing I know she's pulling a resistant Brown Eyes towards the tiny dance floor.

A hand grazed the back of my head before slapping it roughly. "Fuck Rose." I turned to give Rosalie, Emmett's fiancee, a dirty look. She bats her long eyelashes at me while smirking.

At almost six feet tall, Rosalie was the only woman I'd ever met that could handle the overgrown child that is Emmett. Her natural, light blonde hair and dark blue eyes reminded most people of an angel, but she's really the devil's disciple. She reminds me of Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled. "Nice to see you for once, asshole."

"It's nice to see your demonic face too, Rose." I laugh, elbowing her as she sat on my other side.

"How's the new album going?"

I avoid rolling my eyes and shrug. "I'm surprised I haven't blown my brains out."

"Give me the word and I'm sure we can work something out."

"I could just kill you instead?"

"No thanks."

"C'mon."

Rose grins, she's a bitch and we all know and love her for it. "I hope you go to jail in the future and drop the soap."

"Is that when you got lodged something up your ass and it got stuck?" Rose was arrested once about a year ago when she got into a fight with a waitress at a bar and she's proud of it.

"Fuck you, asshole." She laughs again and gets up to make her way towards Alice. The bar has quickly gotten a lot more packed with people and I suddenly realize that I'm at the table by myself. Emmett must have gotten up at some point and also made his way toward the dance floor.

Stuck on purse patrol as we call it. I sip my room temperature beer and watch Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Bella dance in a circle. Well Bella isn't really dancing, she's laughing a lot and doing something that resembles the sprinkler and then the running man. Rose is doing her satan-inspired grind against Emmett and Alice has her hands in the air singing a long to whatever shit music the bar is playing.

Music is my life and the crap they play in the bar is something that I cannot pretend to like. So I zone it out. I slip my ear plugs in before the ringing starts because I'm responsible enough to know that because music is an essential part of who I am and what I do, I need to keep my ear excellent.

I hustle back towards the bar for another beer while trying to keep my eyes on the purses but come back to find Bella sitting in my seat. It's really dark inside the bar but I can see her giving me a bashful smile.

She leans towards me and I remember to take out my ear plug. "I hope you don't think I'm a liar or anything, I was planning on telling Alice the truth tomorrow but I just didn't want to be a party pooper." Her brown eyes look down at the ear plug that I'm holding. "Are those molded ear plugs?"

I nod and hold up the opaque wax up a little. "Don't worry about it."

"Cool." She gives me a tight grin and it's done.

I look at Bella and finish drinking my beer like I'll win an award for chugging it that quickly. Brown Eyes has her attention set on the bar and specifically on the bartender who's continuing her rampage by only helping men. My watch tells me it's almost midnight and I have a long day tomorrow. I pull on a strand of her hair and gesture towards the door with my head. "I'll see you later, Bella."

"It was nice meeting you," she replies. "Did you drive?"

I nod.

She holds up two fingers and I imitate her. She holds up five fingers but then quickly switches them to three fingers and I follow. "Okay, you're good enough to drive. Be safe."

I give Alice a kiss on the cheek and give Emmett and Rosalie a high-five on the way out.

It's time to start my cycle all over again.

The next few days go by in a haze. James somehow gets his shit together and we manage to finish tracking his guitar parts. I find myself at the studio working twelve-hour days trying to work on them to make sure they match up with the drum tracks perfectly before we cover bass and vocals.

Turtle leaves me dinner sometimes in the fridge because I see her even less than I'm used to with my work and her travel. One day, on my way to the studio I see Bella hustling out of the building in front of me but she looks like she's running late and I don't really feel like making small talk so I look at the back of her head disappear in the same direction I'm going.

My days bleed into each other so effortlessly I lose track of what day it is and what month I'm in. I've always been a workaholic but lately I feel myself slipping deep into the canyon that is my recordings and it's overwhelming. I wake up to James' guitar tracks and go to sleep to his vocals, thinking over and over how to get it all perfect. Music, music, music. It chants through my being and I'm swallowed whole.

I sleep, I work and occassionally eat.

This is the repetitive cycle that I've created for myself and that my family hates.

At some point, I find myself still in the studio with James and Peter. Peter is the session bassist we've hired to do the tracking for the album. Peter is plugged into the head and his fingers are making quick work of the five frets and strings on his bass. I'm staring at the board and my computer in front of me while I record the smooth sounds coming from the head.

The doorbell buzzes at the same time that Peter is done with the section and I sigh in relief. "Good job, man." I slap him on the back before I head to the door to see who is ringing the doorbell at... _midnight? _Fuck. I didn't realize it was so late already.

I face the back of someone short's hoodie while I unlock the door. Brown Eyes quickly turn towards me and crinkle up in a smile. "Hey."

"Hey."

Bella pulls the hoodie down and gives me a sheepish smile, thrusting a small tupperware towards me. "I was going to give these to you at home but I saw your lights on... so, here you go. Alice made these for you before she left and since I don't ever see you, I figured I'd bring them by." Brown eyes shuffles her feet. "Emmett showed me where you work on our last run." She tries to explain.

I pull the corner of the container up and if it would be appropriate, I would get hard in an instant. She brought me brownies. I let out a low whistle and can't help but smile. "Thank you so much, Bella." I look down the empty street and back at her. "What are you doing out so late by yourself?" I fucking hate it when Alice does dumb shit like this. Don't they watch the news?

"I had the closing shift. It takes me forever to clean up when I'm by myself."

I realize instantly I don't remember Alice recently mentioning anything about Bella to me. "Where do you work?"

She points at the gym that is at the corner of the street. "I'm a personal trainer." Brown Eyes averts her gaze down and adjusts the purse that's across her body. "Well I should get going, it's late and I'm meeting up with Emmett early tomorrow."

I again realize I don't remember hearing Emmett say anything about her to me recently but then I haven't heard from him in a couple of days except for a couple of text messages. Emmett goes to sleep before I get home and wakes up before I do because of his training schedule. "What are you guys doing?" I immediately feel stupid for asking.

"We do Insanity together at the apartment and then we do more cardio," she responds. "Uh, you're welcome to join us if you want. 7 a.m. everyday but Sunday."

My throat betrays me and makes a weird noise of disapproval but she laughs. "We'll see."

Her cheeks are pink even in the dimly lit street. "No worries." She adjusts her purse again and steps back. "I'll see you later. Enjoy the brownies." She holds her hand up for me to give her a high five and I do. Bella turns around to start walking towards our building but I call out after her.

"Do you always walk home this late?"

"Usually. Since I'm the new person I get stuck with the shit shift."

A run a hand through my hair, trying to beat down the image of Alice getting kidnapped or raped by a psycho on her way home if she was in the same position. "Call me when you get home?"

"Sure. Do you want me to look your number up in the phonebook?" She snorts at her own joke.

I roll my eyes as she hands me her phone and I put in my number on the bright touch screen display. "Be careful." I call out after her.

She nods and waves as she walks away. I head back into the studio and find James and Peter packing their stuff up for the night. I pull the tupperware open as quietly as I can but somehow they've both developed superhuman hearing in the time I was gone and surround me, peering into the small tupperware.

"What you got?"

"Nothing for you."

"Didn't your Mom ever teach you to share?"

I shove a piece of brownie in my mouth and moan at the nutty chunks of fudge. "Nope."

"Where did you get them from?"

"My sister's roommate brought them." I spit out.

"They look good."

I nod again, my mouth full. "They're fucking delicious." I swallow my mouthful.

I have to bat James' arm away from the container. He reminds me of a vulture, his arm is slowly making its way closer and closer to my tupperware hoping I don't see it. "She's a nice girl."

I'm locking up the front door a few minutes later when my phone beeps. It's an unknown number on the screen from an area code I don't recognize.

**Home :)**

It's Bella. I text her back quickly.

**Good. Goodnight.**

Alice would be so fucking proud of me right now. I have to remind myself to tell her of my chivalrous duty towards her roommate. She'll buy me chinese food for a week now.

I think of what James and I have to get done the next day the entire way home. We don't have a lot of time left to get it done but fortunately I think it's not as much as my mind is tricking me into believing. I'm unlocking the door to the apartment before I know it and surprisingly, I find Emmett laying on the couch still in the typical red shorts he uses when training. He gives me a lazy smile.

"Why are you still awake?"

"Hey Eddie, I'm doing good and you?" He waves me over to him. "I cheated and took a nap, now I can't sleep."

I ease my backpack to the floor and sprawl out on the loveseat next to his couch, kicking off my shoes. "That'll teach you."

"How's work?"

"Same old. I think we only have a day or two left of bass and then I mix. How's training?"

He changes the channel and leaves it on a rerun of The Fresh Prince. "Fine. Garrett says I need to lighten up a little and work on my speed."

"Is that why you're exercising with Bella?"

"Yeah, it's replacing my usual cardio. She's a beast." Emmett lowers his gaze to the tupperware container and I can see his eyes narrowing. "What's that?"

"Nothing."

Emmett sits up a little. "Are those Al's brownies?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

At two-hundred and thirty pounds, Emmett literally scoots over on the couch until he's leaning over the container. "Those are Turtle's fucking brownies." He confirms to himself.

I take one out of the container and hold it right in front of my eyes like a rare jewel. "You have to watch your calories, remember?"

He groans and gives me one of the most pathetic look I've ever seen. It rivals Alice's puppy dog eyes. "Dude, please. Just one. One won't hurt me."

I groan, my mouth still full of brownie and hand him one while simultaneously giving him the stink eye. "Just one, you fat lard."

Emmett has it out of his hands and down the back of his throat faster than the blink of an eye and he shivers. "So good."

"What are you watching?"

"Ancient Aliens."

Sometimes I forget how many layers there are to Emmett. Despite the fact that his biceps are larger than most children's heads and that he's an undefeated mixed martial arts fighter, he has a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, enjoys watching the History and Discovery Channel, and donates money to the ASPCA because the commercials struck a chord. By striking a chord I mean they made him teary-eyed. He also refuses to eat pancakes that are not shaped like Mickey Mouse.

Don't ask.

He's my best friend, you either take him the way he is or not at all. Frankly, I wouldn't change the ogre for anything.

One day turns into five and I feel like the world is in balance again. I'm done recording James' album and now me and my headphones have a date with my board to finish mixing the album before I send it in to have it mastered. James is fluttering around the studio space like a new butterfly over the excitement of having his album done. He might also be on cocaine considering the way his limbs shake. I don't know.

He's gotten into the habit of standing behind my shoulder and watching the computer screen when I have ProTools open. It's really fucking annoying. I told him a couple days ago that I was going to punch him in the balls if he didn't quit. Where is he standing right now?

Behind me. Again.

I pull my headphones off. "Jay, do you want to kids?"

He's seriously pondering the question. "Not for a long time."

"Did you know that I have a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu?"

"No way. Is that how you met Em?"

I nod but continue. "I told you if you didn't quit looking over my shoulder, I was going to punch you in the balls. If I do that, you won't be having children. Ever. Just a though."

James winces and backs away toward the couch against the wall. "How long have you known Emmett?"

Everyone always wants to know about Emmett. "Twenty years. We met in karate class." I pull my headphones back on because I want to get this done as quickly as possible and talking about Em, always makes me feel weird. He's Emmett to me, not Emmett "The Grizzly" McCarthy. Out of the corner of my eye I see the light on the front of my phone flash on and I slide the keyboard down to unlock the screen and see a new message from Alice.

**Game night tonight, FF.**

I contemplate for a split second, whether I should wrap it up for the night and join in on game night and it seems like my conscious is going to convince to do just that but I decide otherwise a millisecond later.

This album needs to get done as soon as possible.

They'll understand.


	5. The Sea

I suck and this chapter was the biggest pain in the ass ever. I wrote it. Rewrote it. Wrote it. Rewrote it. Then I finally decided I just needed to get it out of my life so I could move on and hopefully get my this block out of my life so I can continue. Sorry it took forever. I'm already working on the next one. My mistakes are my own. Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a baby great dane named Dorian.

* * *

My Dad was really into wrestling when I was little. I remember rallying around the television and screaming along with him when the Undertaker would do his Tombstone Piledriver and we'd high five each other afterward in victory. He even took me to a couple of matches when they'd tour to Seattle and I'd get to miss half the day of school for Monday Night Raw.

I even had a crush on Ken Shamrock until I turned thirteen. That's when Mom got really sick and we quit watching wrestling after that. A lot of things didn't have the same feeling or effect that they used to.

As I've gotten older, my profession and age have brought me around very fit and muscular people that reminded me of those wrestlers I watched growing up. I really shouldn't have been so surprised when Alice invited me to lunch with her two friends and I came face to face with a man whose sheer height and build put to shame any of the wrestlers I'd seen in the past.

Except the Undertaker of course.

Alice was holding my hand as she pulled me into the cute cafe a few blocks from the apartment and practically pushed me towards this said man who was easily over a foot taller than me and a hundred pounds heavier.

His face reminded me of my boyfriend from kindergarten; short brown hair and dimples bigger than the ones on my grandma's ass. He smiled at me and I sighed in relief. Perfect straight white teeth were in my vision shortly before I was being crushed against a chest that resembled the Berlin Wall.

"Bella, nice to meet you." The man-bear said.

"Let her breathe, Em!" I could feel Alice pulling at the paw that was around my midsection.

"God, Emmett. Put her down. You promised me you wouldn't do that." Another voice said from behind the wall of muscle and then the arms loosened their grip.

"I'm sorry, okay? I just wanted to welcome her to the family. Jeez Louise." The giant with the brown hair muttered and then turned his beaming white smile at back at me. "You didn't mind, right?"

I smile and shake my head because there's no way that I could ever get upset with someone who was just trying to be nice. "It's nice to meet you too, Emmett."

A blonde steps around the Berlin Wall named Emmett and I'm stunned again by the Greek goddess in front of me. I'm secure with myself and my looks for the record, I know that while I'm no Adriana Lima, I'm also not a Susan Boyle but the leggy blonde is in a skirt shorter than anything I owned back in middle school and I kind of feel intimidated. She's half a foot taller than I am and probably not much heavier than I am either.

"Bella, this is Rosalie." Alice introduces from her spot right next to me.

Rosalie smiles at me and steps forward to hug me and I reciprocate because my inner lesbian likes how pretty she is and how nice she smells. "Nice to meet you, Rosalie."

She nods in agreement and then shifts to elbow the giant next to her. "Let's order before Em decides to go to McDonald's and get a BigMac for a snack."

Alice immediately goes into a rant about Rosalie's dress and flowers in season for a bouquet while Emmett closes his eyes and pretends to sleep with his mouth open. From what I understand Rosalie and Emmett are getting married and Alice is planning it. I know that Alice is a wedding planner because she met Angela when they worked together for a wedding planning agency. Then Angela moved back to Phoenix and Alice ventured out on her own.

I'm trying to follow the conversation after we order our food, which seems to be very important because the wedding is only a few months away and I catch Emmett still pretending to nap out of the corner of my eye. He smiles at me when he realizes that someone is finally paying attention to him and I have to laugh. This is way too endearing.

"You're from Arizona?" He asks, sitting up.

"Originally from Washington but I've lived in Arizona since I was twelve." Right before my Mom died. "Are you from Chicago?"

"Born and raised."

"Cool." I lean forward because Rosalie and Alice's conversation has switched to centerpieces and this is heated. "What do you do?"

Emmett tells me about being a mixed martial arts fighter and how he owns his own karate school where he occasionally teaches at. Which is completely cool, I think because this goes with my WWF memories and it'd be nice to have a friend that could royally kick someone's ass if I needed him to. The conversation then includes Rosalie and Alice again, where I get asked every question I would have for a new friend.

What do I do? I'm a personal trainer. Alice mentions that I'm aiming to be a nutritionist and I smile because I am. Also because it would make Renee happy.

How much can I bench? You know Emmett asked this. My own weight. I don't want to look like Chyna and I tell him this. He finds it amusing while Alice and Rosalie mouth to each other "What's a Chyna?" I try my best to stifle a snicker.

Do I have a boyfriend? No. I don't have a family either but I'm sure a better time will come along for me to explain the situation.

Over the next hour I learn that Rosalie is some kind of badass sports agent and that Emmett is one of her clients. I can accept that. I also learn more about Emmett's digestive behaviors than I should and although I can relate to him, we'll keep those little gems for another time.

I'm asking Emmett about his _job_ if you can call it that when my mind draws a blank. "Did you always want to become a fighter?"

He gives me a lopsided smile and his oversized dimples pay my eyes a visit. "No. I wanted to be a teacher...but I love kicking people's asses for money."

I snort. "Well now you have the best of both worlds." I sip my water. "Let me know when you have a fight, I'd like to see it...but only if you promise to win."

"You're on."

It's been two days since I got to Chicago and my brain feels like it's going to explode. The amount of information that Alice has ingrained in me is unbelievable. There's so much to learn about this new city that it almost makes me want to go back to Phoenix because I love the familiarity.

What is there in Phoenix besides old memories of things that make my heart hurt?

Absolutely nothing besides a couple of friends I can keep in touch with on iChat or Facebook.

We just got back from the Ikea in Bolingbrook and Alice has just weasled her way into getting me to go to a bar with her and Rosalie. I'm debating whether to tell her that I don't drink but decide against it. The absence of alcohol in my life is part of the many life choices I've made over the last decade that could only be portrayed in a Lifetime movie.

I'm sitting on my bed in my underwear trying to figure out what someone wears to a bar. A dress is too much. A skirt makes me look like a hooker. Pants it is. I grab the only wrinkle-free shirt I have that doesn't look like something I would take to the gym with me, put on my flats and head out to find Alice in her room. She gives me the once over and nods in approval but I can tell she wants to throw in her two cents; she refrains, thankfully.

Alice drives us over to the bar she had in mind and we fight over who's going to pay for the ridiculously overpriced parking (she wins because I don't have a backbone). The bar is small and there aren't too many people yet but fortunately Rosalie and Emmett are already at a table.

"Bella! You made it!" Emmett engulfs me in another hug and I can't help but relish the contact. I've forgotten how much I enjoy being close to good people. I turn to give Rosalie a hug but the pornstar-esque blonde grabs my face and gives me a kiss on each cheek out of the blue. I want to ask what exactly she's had to drink but I don't. I also ask myself if she's always so friendly to people she just met, but I enjoy how quickly I feel accepted and keep my mouth closed. Alice and Rosalie give me hand gestures to let me know they're going to the restroom.

After a few moments of standing there, I'm realize how thirsty I am and indicate to Emmett that I'm heading towards the bar. "Want anything?"

He shakes his head. "I'll wait for Edward, thanks though." Edward is Alice's older brother. A mighty good looking older brother if his high school graduation picture has anything to say about it.

The room is getting pretty full but luckily the bar still looks pretty empty, there are only a few people sitting within reach of the bartender. Sliding onto one of the many empty booths I spy the bartender on the other end chatting it up with a guy who looks like he's trying to be an Ed Hardy model, for the record he fails epically. I look at the bottles on the wall trying to figure out what everything is while I wait for her to grace me with her attention. After what seems like a few minutes doing that, the blonde bartender is still talking to Ed Hardy but is leaning forward now so he can see her tits and I have an unwanted view of her ass.

There are very few times in my life that I wish I were a bitch. By nature, I'm probably too passive and patient but it's quickly fading each minute I have to wait to order my non-alcoholic beverage for this lady. Something to my right catches my attention and somehow the unobservant bartender's attention too and she acknowledges the person with a raise of her finger.

"You've got to be kidding me." My eyes quickly glue themselves to the messy reddish brown head sitting next to me.

Dark green eyes turn to look at me and by some miracle of life, I manage to keep my jaw clenched. "Can I...help you?" The ridiculously attractive man asks me and I ease my gaze over his perfectly structured face; all chiseled features and perfect pink lips. My insanely awkward social skills have decided not to come out and visit, thankfully, so I continue to repress the urge to make an idiot of myself in front of this amazingly hot man. I can handle holding a conversation. I hope.

"I've been sitting here for at least five minutes trying to get her attention and you sidle up right next to me, and within five seconds get her to look over here." I can't help but roll my eyes. "Maybe if I grow a dick and cut my hair, I can get some decent service."

He stays quiet for all of a second and then snorts. "That might work."

I allow myself to enjoy the snorting man and shrug trying my best to play off my nonchalance. "I can probably get it done by the time she decides she can come help me." Turning back to look at the bartender, I swallow hard watching the big-boobed bitch finally make her way over to not me, but the guy next to me. Jesus.

My vision is going blurry in anger because this lady is seriously starting to make me mad that I don't feel the initial elbow to my side. The green eyes are looking at me, "What do you want?"

I plaster a fake smile on my face. "Cranberry juice, please."

He snorts again and I find myself appreciating this fellow snorter even more as the bartending bitch gives me an incredulous look and finally decides to work to get the drinks. "You're at a bar drinking cranberry juice?"

My body betrays me and I lean towards him. "I don't drink."

He raises a perfect dark eyebrow. "I see. Are you in treatment?"

The laugh that escapes from deep within my chest is completely unexpected, that was the last thing I had thought he could say and I'm consumed with laughter. "God. No, man. I just don't drink."

"But you're at a bar..." The green eyed Michaelangelo masterpiece looks confused.

I can't help but sigh because I've always been a little self-conscious about the fact that I don't drink and that most people aren't so accomodating to my choices. I really hate having to explain why I do or don't do the things that I do. "I'm with new friends and they were so excited to take me to a bar I didn't have the heart to tell them I'd rather watch a movie."

Luckily the bartender is coming back with the drinks so I start inching a ten dollar bill towards the guy but he kind of waves his hand at me in rejection. "I'm opening a tab, don't worry about it. I can respect cranberry juice." He smiles at thank the Mona Lisa, his teeth are just as perfect as the rest of his face.

I'm relieved that he accepted my half-assed explanation and smile. "Well, thank you very much kind gentleman. Have a good night." I curtsy in his direction and head back towards the table asking myself why the fuck I just curtsied. Jesus, what's wrong with me? I should be happy that my awkwardness only came out at the end of the conversation and not the entire time but still...

Heading back towards Emmett, I set my drink on the table and start looking around for Alice. Emmett looks bored but manages to point in the direction of the bathroom so I head over there. It's small but Alice is holding the door to one of the stalls closed with only a single digit; she gives me a curious glance and I can't help but suddenly feel violated. "What happened?"

"When?" I ask because for some reason over the last two days Alice has surprised me with the assumptions she makes from just looking at me. They're correct assumptions but it makes me feel like she can read my mind.

"At the bar, silly. You look like you need to tell me something."

I shoot her a smirk before going into the stall next to Rosalie's. "Nothing happened."

"Al knows things, Bella. Just spill the beans." Rosalie says from next door.

"Nothing, I just ordered a drink and this hot guy bought it for me. No big deal. He was just being nice."

They both stay quiet for a moment and the only noise in the restroom besides the music from the bar are the sounds of my peeing. "Did he touch your drink?" Rosalie asks.

I think back for a second before I wipe. "No. The bartender handed it to me. Why?"

Alice lets out a loud sigh. "Thank god. I was hoping he wasn't trying to be a douche and slip you a ruffie."

The sound of mine and Rosalie's toilet flushing simultaneously drowns out our laughter until we're out of the stalls. "No, don't worry about it. He didn't go anywhere near it. Thanks for caring though."

Even though she's pretty short I can see Alice staring at me through the reflection in the mirror but she smiles as soon as she realizes I caught her. "What did he look like?"

I shrug to try to hide the fact that the man was anything but amazing looking so I don't look desperate. I'm not desperate, I swear. He's just really that attractive. "Dark hair, green eyes, perfect face, you know. The obvious."

Rosalie starts coughing out of nowhere but fortunately the handful of friendships I've had over the years makes me aware of the kind of cough she's throwing out there for Alice. That _we know something you don't know _cough. Alice tries her best to hide her knowing smirk but I was born with a bullshit meter and raise an eyebrow in their direction. "That's interesting."

"What don't I know?"

She's pulling at the hem of her shirt trying to be coy. "Nothing." The travel-sized devil smiles at me and even though we've only really known each other for a few days, I can already tell we understand each other better than the other expects. "Ready?"

I dry my hands and nod but keep giving the blonde and Alice sidelong glances of curiosity as we head back towards the table. Right before we get there, I realize that I left my wallet in the bathroom and whisper to Rosalie that I'll be right back. Thankfully, my red leather wallet is still sitting on the counter in the bathroom and I give a silent prayer of thanks.

_Fuck my life._

Alice is standing next to the table talking to a new figure sitting and both of their backs are to me but I immediately recognize the dark blue plaid shirt. _Please no._ In such a small span of time that I can't even comprehend, Alice has me pulled right up next to her. "Bella, this is my brother, Edward."

_Edward _ is the same perfect male specimen that was at the bar. The same one who knows I'm not a drinker and that I deliberately lied to his sister to seem cooler than I really am. The same fucking one that I just described as hot...to his sister. Sweet Jedidiah. "Hey friend," by some miracle I manage to stammer out looking at Alice like an idiot. All the blood is rushing to my face and chest making me feel like I've been laying out in the sun too long.

The knowing smile on the dark-haired beauty's face as she looks several times between my drink and Edward's beer says it all. She knew.

"Hey Bella, what a coincidence." His voice reminds me of a chocolate shake despite the fact that if there was any doubt in Alice's mind that I was talking about Edward before, there isn't a doubt any longer.

Tapping back into my polite social skills, I push my hands in his direction and smile. "Nice to officially meet you. Thanks for the drink again." I tilt the glass towards him in acknowledgement. "I owe you one next time."

Alice finds enough compassion in her tiny heart to pull me away immediately afterwards and push me towards the dance floor. "Work it!"

"I don't dance!"

"You do now!" She hollers back and my grimace is second nature.

Charlie, my Dad, didn't dance and I'm a mirror image of him sans the facial hair and testicles. My dance moves are limited to bump and grinds, and eighties and early nineties dance trends. I steal a glance in Edward's direction but fortunately find that his attention is on Rosalie instead of me. The last thing I want is for him to call me out before I get a chance to throw myself under the bus for lying. Emmett however is trying to do something that resembles a retarded crab walk on his path towards mine and Alice's section of the dance floor.

Within a couple of minutes my mind is only focused on Alice and Emmett's antics and I'm laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes. Rosalie joins our semicircle and we each do what we do best, Emmett and Rosalie are allowing their private parts to meet, Alice is doing something with her hands that only she could pull off and I'm doing the sprinkler. I can see Edward looking in our direction and then down at the table where the purses are and then he looks back towards the bar. He looks like he's debating something and rushes off his seat towards the bar.

Taking this as the perfect opportunity for my to clear my good name, I decide to head back towards the table. "I'm going to finish my drink." I say to Alice's ear and she nods in understanding.

Feeling ballsy, I slide into the seat that Edward was sitting in before and start sipping my watered down cranberry juice. Good for the urinary tract, don't you know. He gets his drink way faster than I could have imagined and when he's walking back towards the table, he sees me and smiles a tiny little thing and I can't help but return it, embarrassed.

I lean towards him because the bar is a lot louder than it was, only to see him take something out of his ear. "I hope you don't think I'm a liar or anything, I was planning on telling Alice the truth tomorrow but I just didn't want to be a party pooper." I'm looking at his hand the entire time and I realize what he's holding. "Are those molded ear plugs?"

He nods and holds up his prized possession. "Don't worry about it."

I sigh in relief and give him a tight smile. "Cool."

Neither one of us says anything as he chugs his beer down and I'm looking at the sexist bartender ignoring the women standing there waiting for her. What feels like a minute later, someone is tugging my hair and I turn to look in the direction. "I'll see you later, Bella." Edward whispers so close to my ear I can barely smell a hint of beer but the heat from his breath lingers on my cheek.

"It was nice meeting you. Did you drive?" He nods. I hold up two fingers to test him and make sure he's handled his drinks and he repeats the gesture. I then change the amount of fingers I'm holding up to see if I can throw him off but he's sober enough to follow my quick gestures effortlessly. "Okay, you're good enough to drive. Be safe."

Be safe, who says that anymore? Jeez.

Edward heads towards his loves ones to say bye and he's gone in a blink. I stay at the table, watching the purses until Emmett catches me daydreaming about nothing. "Tired?"

"Little bit."

He's running a hand through his short brown hair and I immediately sense the nervous energy he's radiating. After years of training people who are usually too embarrassed to ask for help, I can recognize it in a second. I smile at him reassuringly. "Have you started at the gym yet?"

Alice has a friend who owns a gym a few blocks away from the apartment and he just so happened to have an opening for a personal trainer on his staff. "Next week, I wanted to get settled in."

Emmett runs his hand through his hair again. "Are you still working out?"

"Yeah, have you heard of Insanity?" He nods. "I do that when I can't get a good traditional workout in. Are you training?"

"Always," he snickers. "I think I might have another fight in two months so I have to trim down a little."

"Trim down?" Emmett looks like he has the body of a more muscular underwear model underneath his clothes.

"My trainer thinks I'm too bulky and that I need to lean up."

The snicker that escapes me is completely necessary. "Most guys would kill to have your body and I mean that in a non-stalker way."

"I knew I liked you for a reason, Bella." Emmett smiles and I swear the room lights up. This guy puts out way too many good vibrations for his own good. "I was wondering though...if you have time, if you wouldn't mind helping me just get a little more lean? I've tried adding a couple of miles to my workout but it doesn't do anything."

"I don't know if I can physically get you down from what, six percent body fat?" He nods in agreement and my damned snort comes out. I couldn't get down to that percentage if my life depended on it. "But I'll definitely help you as much as I can."

He holds up his hand for me to give him a high five and I do. "Thanks Bella."


	6. You Need Not To Find

Favoriting (is that a word?) my story and adding me to your alerts makes me very happy. Hope you enjoy. My mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my baby great dane.

* * *

"Bella?" Alice's sweet voice draws me from my daydreaming.

I'm sitting on the couch with my socked feet propped on the coffee table and I debate for a second whether or not to put them down. It's only been a little over a week since I moved in and this place doesn't feel like home yet. I put them down. "In the living room." I let her know, not that she wouldn't be able to figure it out on her own.

The sound of the wheels of her suitcase against the hardwood floors are my only indication that she heard me. The couch is facing away from the hallway so I lean back to see her cute bob-cut head coming towards me. "I feel so bad leaving you."

"Don't worry about it." I give her my best smile to try to convince her that it really is okay she's leaving for a long weekend to go to a couple of back to back bridal shows in southern California.

She walks around the sofa and sits on the armrest, giving me these heartbreaking doe eyes out of guilt. "I still feel bad."

"It's not a big deal at all. I can always call Emmett or Rosalie if I need anything. I won't though," She's still giving me a look that remind me too much of Renee. "Don't stress."

"Edward's across the hall too and don't forget that his studio is right by the gym," she raises an eyebrow and I pray that she doesn't bring up the bar incident. "So feel free to drop by there if you're lonely. That poor bastard thinks his clients are his only friends."

Emmett had showed me his studio on our first run a few days ago and I'd already been over to the apartment they shared that same day because I locked myself out of ours. Alice has graciously not brought up my bullshit with calling her brother hot, which is true, but extremely awkward. I made sure to tell her the truth about my alcohol-free life the next morning and apologized for sucking as a new friend and lying to her. All she did was laugh and tell me that I could be lying about my name and she wouldn't care because she likes me that much. Needless to say it made me a little teary-eyed.

"You don't mind right?"

I realize thirty seconds too late that Alice kept talking after I zoned out and missed a part of our conversation. "I'm sorry, repeat what you just said."

"There's a tupper with brownies on the counter, do you mind giving them to Edward? I'd leave them in his apartment but Emmett would eat them all before Edward gets home."

"Yeah, no problem."

"I need to get going," she groans looking at her watch. Alice looks up at me with a frown on her face; she's too pretty with her black hair cut short around her cheekbones and the kind of blue eyes I used to ask God why I couldn't inherit from Renee. In a little less than a week, she's completely wrapped me around her finger with her big laugh and no-nonsense attitude. I'm a sucker. She makes me feel good. I had thought to myself it was too weird that she and Emmett are both very similar, they make me think of them as magnets because they manage to pull a person in without thinking.

After a quick hug, kiss on the cheek, and reminders that Emmett and Edward are down the hall, she's out and I'm back on the sofa waiting until my shift starts at work. Reaching to grab my phone off the side table, I find myself face to face with Edward's high school graduation picture. His bright green eyes immediately make me sigh like a teenage girl. Being at the gym all day, I see extremely attractive men all day but this specific one for some reason just makes me want to groan. Since the night at the bar, neither Rosalie or Alice have said anything about my huge blunder and part of me is extremely thankful but the other half is curious.

Emmett talks about Edward all the time, how much of a workaholic he is, recounting funny stories from their childhood among other random things, but he never mentions anything about Edward having a girlfriend. He's married to his work from what I understand. Alice talks about him as well but it's usually just saved for times when she sees something she thinks he might need but that's pretty much it.

I force myself to break eye contact with picture-Edward and remind myself that I don't need to waste my time mooning over someone who's not interested in me. After all, if he would have liked me at least a little bit he would have at least tried to make some effort to get to know me since I'm down the hall. Right?

He has no taste. Obviously.

A few hours later, I'm hanging out at the front desk of the gym with Demetri, one of the other personal trainers who work here. There's also Jane, who doesn't seem to like the idea of having me work here, and Felix, who seems a little too happy to have me working here. Not that I'm complaining. My back is to the front doors so I can keep an eye on the people in the gym in case someone needs help and Demetri is standing in front of me with his ankles crossed.

He's been trying to make conversation with me for the last fifteen minutes and my normally quiet personality makes it hard. "Do you want to know how I used to get my clients?" Demetri asks me but doesn't wait for an answer. "When I worked out here on my off hours, I wore bike shorts for the first two months."

"Bike shorts?" The second it comes out of my mouth, I regret it.

Demetri shakes his longish brown hair and nods. "Yep. Then I'd scope out the cougars in here who were admiring the goods and when I'd come in the next day I'd introduce myself." He winks and even though he's an attractive guy I try to repress the urge to gag because that act is just a little too cocky for me. "My schedule was full in no time."

I'm not normally a very observant person but I try my best to be discreet and look at him without being obvious. Luckily he's wearing loose mesh shorts and the same form fitting polo I am. "So you think I'll get more customers if I work out in a sports bra and shorts?"

"Yeah, it'll help."

A laugh that sounds like thunder explodes from behind me. "Don't fall for it, Bella." Emmett's now familiar voice chuckles.

I turn to look at the brute of a man that I've quickly grown fond of and my smile is instantaneous. "Hey Emmett, whats up?"

"I came to see if my new favorite trainer wants to eat lunch with me." He walks up to the counter and extends his hand out to Demetri. "Emmett, nice to meet you."

I feel like an asshole and point at Demetri. "Demetri, this is my friend Emmett. Emmett this is my coworker Demetri."

The other trainer gives me a curious look before shaking hands. "Are you Emmett McCarthy?"

"Sure am," he takes it in stride. It's not unusual for people to do double takes when we're out running but he never says anything about it. His build makes him easily distinguishable in any place but the fact that Emmett never brings up his popularity or success is one of the things I like the most about him. From what I've seen in Demetri, he thinks way more of himself that Emmett ever would.

"I can't believe you never told me you know The Grizzly, Bella," the way he says it makes it seem like all of a sudden we've been best friends who tell each other everything.

I turn to look at Emmett with a raised eyebrow. "The Grizzly?"

"It's an old nickname from high school that stuck around," he explains.

Snorting, I give him a high five. "Better than The Bunny I guess."

"You're an ass," he laughs. "Are you coming?"

Demetri waves me off. "Go for it, it's not like we're busy right now."

"Thanks, I'll be back soon." Grabbing my purse, I head around the counter and slap Emmett on the back. It's rare for me to get attached and comfortable with people so soon but Emmett, like Alice, is an exception. We're walking down the street in the opposite direction from our building and it's surprisingly crowded. A few people turn to look at him and whisper things to each other but Emmett is oblivious. "Where are we going?"

"Have you heard of Chipotle?"

I scoff. "Have I heard of Chipotle? That's like asking me if I've heard of McDonald's."

"Well good, now you can split chips and guacamole with me." He says as he leads me around the block and towards the familiar looking logo on a door.

We order our food a moment later and then sit down, I've spoiled myself with a steak fajita burrito with gasp, sour cream, and a Blackberry Izze drink. Emmett gives me a look that could kill as he opens up his chicken burrito and pushes at his cup of water. "Hey, you're the one who says you want to lose mass so don't get mad at me." I bite into my food with more enthusiasm than necessary.

"So you're having some trouble getting people to train?" He asks me later through a mouthful of food.

I nod with a frown, wiping my mouth. "Yeah, I've only gotten two people so far but it's only been three days so it should pick up soon."

"I know some people. I'll pass along a good word for you." He smiles at the same time some busty brunette walks by our table shooting him a come hither look. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye and shakes his head. "I can't help it, I swear."

"Uh huh." We laugh and keep eating. "Do you know when Edward will be home?"

"No clue, he's in and out all the time. Did you want me to pass along a message?"

Alice's warning that Emmett can eat Edward's brownies in no time, rings in my mind and even though I feel guilty for lying to my new friend, I have to go through with what I was asked. "I wanted to drop something off that Alice asked me to."

"She spoils him," he says with a smile on his face. "The loser needs some company."

I don't make an effort to correct him and tell him I'm just dropping by.

* * *

I'm helping the lady in maintenance wipe down some of the equipment at the gym because it's dead and I know we both want to get home as quickly as possible. I have a date with Netflix tonight and Teresa wants to make it to a party "before everyone gets wasted". Fortunately, it's eleven before we know it and all the exercise equipment is already clean so we're out of the gym in no time. The walk home is short and in no time I'm passing Edward's studio, and I can see the lights on inside.

I saw him last week on my way home from work to drop off his brownies. He seemed really distracted and sweet, worrying about me getting home but I tried not to put too much thought into it. Alice probably asked him to keep an eye on me, but it's a nice thing anyway to feel cared for. Rosalie called me last night to make sure I got home okay.

"Bella!"

The strong voice tears me from my thoughts and even though I've only heard it on two occasions, I recognize the rich tone immediately, turning around to look at the source of the verbal silk. He's taller than I re, I'm five-five on a good day and he's maybe around six-two or six-three. A little taller than my ex, or as I like to think of him, _he who shall not be named_.

"Hey." I stand there adjusting the strap of my purse across my shoulder, shooting himself a tight smile.

"You really walk home this late every night?" He asks catching up to me.

I tried my best not to pay attention to how well his yellow-green shirt fits him but fail miserably. "Yeah, unfortunately. Do you?"

He's walking next to me now and nods in response. "Usually, once I get in there I lose track of what time it is." Edward's looking up the street and shakes his head. "It's not really safe for you to be out this late walking by yourself."

Flexing my bicep at him and pulling out my pepper spray, I shrug. "The only streetwalking I do is on my way home." I just called myself a hooker, amazing.

Edward raises an eyebrow at me and laughs. "What?"

"Nevermind." My face is flushing pink and my subconscious is thanking the heavens that it's dark and he can't see me. "Emmett told me you were recording an album. How's it going?"

"Good," he's running a hand through his already messy hair but I can see him looking at me from the corner of his eye. "I'm almost done mixing the album." I don't say anything so he takes this to mean that I don't know what he's talking about. "I record each instrument separately and that's when I put it all-"

"Together, I know." I smile because I don't mean to sound like a bitch cutting him off. "Who are you getting to master it?"

He raises another eyebrow at me but this time in curiosity and I feel a small thrill in my chest. I like to surprise people with my knowledge of random things. "Bjorn at the Cutting Room." He's looking at me like he's challenging me.

"Didn't they master a Meshuggah album?" I know that's going to throw him for a loop because despite the fact that I listen to a wide variety of music, my age and gender make it easy to assume I listen to John Mayer on loop.

He stops suddenly and has a big, lop-sided smile that makes me feel weird inside. "You know Meshuggah?"

"Bleed is my ringtone, hello." We either walk too fast or the walk is too short but I recognize the outline of the tree in front of our building too soon.

"I guess I'm a dick because I really wouldn't expect for you to like that kind of music." He reaches up with a large hand to tug on the end of my ponytail like he did at the bar and looks up and down the street again. "This really is too late for you to be walking home alone, Bella."

* * *

I had a really shitty day today and as I'm locking the front door to the gym, I can't help but feel relieved that the day is over. Teresa gives me a quick wave as the doors and alarm are finally set. She lives in the opposite direction of me, so I head back home. It's almost midnight because there were more members tonight than usual and these messy pigs don't know how to use the foam cleaner to wipe down their machines. I allow myself to replay the day in my head.

The lights went out last night and reset my alarm so it didn't go off this morning and I was an hour late to work. I had started talking to a new gym member, Alec, who seemed like the type of person I usually like to train: in his early twenties, heavy set his entire life, and and at an ends as to what he could do in order to lose weight. He knew more about crash diets than my roommate in college did, probably.

Then Jane, finds it in her good graces to walk by Alec wearing a sports bra and shorts that look like something I sleep in, and any hope for training with _Bella _is out of the question. Fuck me. In Phoenix, I had a full schedule of clients who valued my help and here in Chicago, the not-so-tall platinum blonde with tiny boobs and a six-pack gets it all. Where she is tall and lanky, I'm short and lean in a muscular way. My abs are just as flat just not as defined because of my diet; it consists of eating whatever I want and then working out twice as hard.

I learned the hard way my first month of personal training not to ever tell a client this.

It's hard to tell myself that I'm just being a bitch and that my lack of clients has to do with my being new to this gym. Maybe it's just my mood swings from my period starting but who knows. During my lunch in the breakroom, Demetri somehow ran into me with a cup of coffee in his hand and spills it right down my shirt burning my chest and staining my shirt.

Then, to make matters so much more incredible, my one client today fails to tell me that she's nauseous and vomits right in front of me. The remains of her tuna sandwich are splattered all over my pants and favorite tennis shoes, when the smell of her heaving hits me and I start gagging, trying to fight the urge to throw up my lunch too. Luckily, I manage to control my body's urge to vomit and I help Teresa clean up the puke because Maggie was my client.

It's taken me so long to think of all the things that made my normally good day, feel shitty and I'm almost home. Edward's warnings ring in my head and I look up the empty street and then turn to look back. There's only some guy walking but he's still at the end of the block. As I turn to look forward again, a dark image catches my attention from across the street. If I would have been paying attention better, I would have seen the dark figure jogging very quietly towards me but I'm too late.

The contact of knuckles to the side of my cheek are too much and I stagger to the side of the building, feeling the hot heat spread through my face. I'm so disoriented and it hurts so bad, that I can't stop him from pushing me really hard against the bricks and I'm on the ground. I manage to see him pull a knife out of his pocket and I feel like I'm going to vomit. The worst feeling spreads through my bones in milliseconds, worse than when I found out Renee had breast cancer, worse than when I found out Charlie had an advanced stage of lung cancer, worse than anything and I allow myself to feel guilty for a second because I know that this is the most terrible feeling I've ever felt because it's my life in danger.

The guy takes a step towards me again, the knife in his hand and pulls at my purse, cutting the thin cloth strap of my purse. He tugs the remaining cloth from around me, gripping my small Target brand purse in hands, and takes off running down the street. I just sat there in shock, my face and side are burning and I feel indescribable. I just laid there and let some asshole hit me in the pace, push me down and steal my purse.

I've gone through worse things in life but this hits a spot in my heart that is all on it's own. I miss Phoenix so much in those few minutes I let myself sit against the brick of the building, that I don't understand how I manage not to cry. The pain in my face is becoming more overwhelming and the more it hurts, the more I want to go back to my life in Arizona. I want to go back to my parents house and lay on the dusty porch in the excruciating dry heat with Charlie. I want to drive my car to work. I want to feel strong again.

None of those things are possible anymore and I bite back a sob.

Standing up slowly, I can tell my side is scraped from its encounter with the brick and more than likely bruised too. I'm so close to the apartment building that I'm getting ridiculously pissed no one was around to help me. I let my hair down to hide my face from the security guard siting behind his marble desk, he doesn't say anything to me and I sure as hell don't want to say anything to him either.

My cheek is throbbing now and I press the button for the elevator more times than is necessary in hopes of getting it down here faster. The two doors finally slide open and I'm in, my chest is throbbing with all kinds of emotion and I just want to go upstairs and lock myself in the apartment. Alice is probably home and my need for a hug and an ice pack is overwhelming.

A hand darts between the doors a second before they close, so they open up again. I'm looking down to avoid having anyone see whatever destruction is on my face so I don't see the familiar reddish brown hair standing in front of me. "Hey Bella."

I look up at him against my good judgement and see him smiling. "Hey." My voice sounds the way I feel, if that's even possible.

The content expression slowly falls as he takes in my appearance; a big hand with long, slim fingers reaches up to push hair away from the side of my face and he hisses. "Holy shit."

My body cannot hold in the tears that it tried to lock away for later.


	7. I Suck

I'm a total liar. I'm sorry.

This is completely not Against the Grain or FF-related but I need help!

On another note, sorry for being a spaz and not updating the story (you can tell from my track record I suck) but luckily I have recently found myself with a lot more time on my hands than I'm used to.

ANYWAY- The point of this bogus update is to see if I can find a couple of people to help me out.

I'm working on a story (not Twilight related) and am in desperate need of some editing (and moral) help haha. I just need a couple of pairs of eyes for opinions and editing help.

If anyone is interested, please PM me or send me a review and I'll give you my email address. I don't want to write a novel that's cheesy but we all know love is blind and because I'm writing it I love it; I don't want to avoid details that would annoy me if I were reading it. I'm rambling, sorry. The story is kind of YA (not high schoolers though) paranormal romance.

Thanks for reading and sorry for sucking with updates :)


	8. A Cure

I don't know why I reread my chapters for ATG but I did and in the process remembered how much I like my characters so... here's a new chapter! I'm impatient and didn't proofread it at all (I'm working on my other story at the same time) so... ignore the mistakes- I'm sorry for them- and hopefully enjoy the chapter.

* * *

There are five things in this world that really piss me off:

People standing behind me while I work.

The idea of Alice having sex.

Abused animals.

Anything relating to my ex-girlfriend.

Men with no backbone.

Staring at Bella's swollen cheek made my stomach tighten in a way that it hadn't in years. I wanted to yell, throw something, kill the guy, vomit, and shake her all at the same time. I wanted to yell because I needed to let this ravenous beast called my anger out of my system because otherwise I would explode thinking about the spineless piece of shit that had hit this poor girl. Throwing something and killing the guy were both tied in with my need to justify the completely bastard thing that was done to my sister's friend. I felt like vomiting because I'm dramatic. What can I say.

My need to shake Bella was scaring me. I had told her. I had fucking _told_ her she shouldn't be walking home alone so late at night. Yet she didn't listen. She still kept walking home at damn near midnight thinking that her tiny bottle of pepper spray would protect her. From the way her hands were shaking as I pulled her down the corridor towards my apartment I could tell that she had genuinely gotten the shit scared out of her, not that anyone could blame her. Her eyes were cast down at the floor and her hands were loosely at her sides, trembling. As soon as I saw her face in the elevator, she burst into tears and I jumped in with her, not knowing what to do with my limbs. I wanted to shake her for being so careless and give her a hug because she looked so... disheartened. Like someone had killed her puppy.

With her big brown eyes full of fat tears, her voice wavered. "Some guy mugged me."

"Fuck Bella." I led the way to my apartment, quickly unlocking it and holding the door open for her to follow me. I flicked on the lights to the kitchen and patted the counter. "Sit."

Her hair was a mess, falling out of it's previous bun and laying sloppily around her gentle heart-shaped face. She pressed her behind against the counter, palms flat on the surface and tried to hoist herself up. Her entire frame was shaking, the adrenaline obviously gone from her body. She let out a deep, painful sigh and I could hear her swallow back another sob. Setting my stuff onto the opposite counter, I walked over to the brown-eyed brunette to stand directly in front of her. Her body was strangely warm and she smelled faintly of something sweet and a little bit of sweat, the two scents somehow coexisting together. Placing my hands on both sides of her hips, I lifted her onto the counter and went about grabbing the all too familiar ice pack from the freezer and a bottle of Advil.

I passed her the ice pack and went about getting her a glass of water for the Advil. She hissed as she pressed the pack against her face from the cold, mumbling a very low "Mother fuck."

"What happened?" I passed her the water and leaned against the opposite counter.

"The fucking prick punched me in the face, pushed me down and took my purse." She was loud and pissed. Biting her lip, she looked up at the ceiling and blinked several times. Neither one of us said anything but I could hear her swallowing very loudly. "I didn't even have any money on me." Bella was blinking quickly again and thanks to Alice's teen years, I knew she was trying to stop herself from crying. We sat there together for a couple of minutes, neither one of us saying anything. Finally bringing her hand up to her eyes, she swiped at them with a trembling hand. "He had a knife and I thought he was going to hurt me...and all I could think about was that I was going to die."

I stood there silently, feeling my heartbeat in my throat and all I could manage to make myself think about was a dream I had not that long ago about Alice. She made Emmett and I go watch "The Lovely Bones" with her for her birthday and that night I dreamt that a young Turtle had been murdered, it felt so real that I woke up and called my little runt to make sure she was okay. It could've been Al. It could've been Rosalie. Both of these morons walked home at night after we went out sometimes. Whoever fuck face had robbed Bella could have done the same to the only two women in my life besides my Mom.

"I'm glad you didn't pee on yourself. I've heard of people crapping their pants or peeing on themselves when they're scared," it probably wasn't the best time to crack a joke but it was the only thing I knew how to do.

She let out a tiny snort, the curve of a smile pulling up on one cheek. "Me too... otherwise it would have made sitting on your counter a little awkward."

I couldn't help but laugh. I wasn't sure how any other girl would be handling her current situation but I know it said something about her character that she wasn't a big blubbering mess. "Take these, Rocky," I said, handing her two Advil.

Her cheek dimpled and she swallowed the two pills silently. "Thank you, Edward." Bella reached her hand up to wipe at her eyes again. She looked up to catch my stare. "My face really hurts," she admitted.

"I'm sure it does," pushing off the counter, I came to stand in front of her. Even on the counter, I was still taller than she was. "Let me see," I asked, reaching up to pull the blue ice pack off her face.

Once it was down, I leaned forward to inspect her face. Her big brown eyes were fixed on my forehead as my gaze swept over the swollen, flaming red area under her eye. Years of dealing with Emmett's injuries before he was officially a professional fighter had pretty much made me an expert in bruising. She was definitely going to have a huge purple knot on her face the next day. Pressing my fingers lightly against the area, she recoiled a little at the touch.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?" I found myself asking her.

She nodded, her warm breath fanning my face. Bella tugged at the back of her shirt, slowly peeling it up I moved around from in front of her to look at her back. The black shirt she'd been wearing kept rolling its way up, revealing the large black crossed bands of her sports bra. Pulling it completely over her head, I couldn't help but realize that Bella was sitting on my counter in just her bra. Similar red marks to the one on her face, were tracked across her ribs with deep scrapes matting her back.

"Jesus," I muttered at the beaded blood from her scrapes. I half expected her to ask how bad it was but she didn't. She just sat there, spine erect, not moving a muscle. "Don't move, okay?"

I went to my bathroom to grab that first aid kit that Emmett stashed there a very long time ago. Bringing out the big white box, she was still sitting in the same place. Her slim form was hunched over, the bones of her spine rippled with her breaths. Her low riding pants barely hid the top band of her bright green underwear. "I'm going to clean it up, okay?"

She shook her head. "Thank you but I'd really like to go home and shower first. I'm sure Alice can do this for me," her voice was low.

An image of Alice freaking the hell out filled my head. I knew she would lose her mind when she saw Bella. I could already imagine her squawking around the apartment like a peacock whose feathers had been rumpled. I knew it would only make Bella feel worse to put Alice through that.

"Uh... just shower here," my words came out awkward and I knew I was blushing from how hot my face felt. "Look, I know how Alice is. She has Munchausen syndrome. She'll probably cry her eyes out and feel worse than you do by the end of the night. It's not pretty." I tried to explain.

She looked down at the floor and then nodded. "Okay," she scratched at her ear, looking up at me with a slightly embarrassed smile.

I smiled at her as reassuringly as I could. "C'mon, I'll show you where the bathroom is."

Walking through the apartment, she trailed behind me looking at things on the walls and end tables. Holding her dirty shirt in her hand, she stepped around me into the bathroom once I held the door open. Bella stopped in front of me and I looked over her much smaller frame, she was lean and taut. Her smooth slightly tanned skin stretched over feminine muscle, she wasn't a bodybuilder by any measure or skinny like some of my exes, skinny girls don't have handfuls under their bras like she did...I zoned off and tore my eyes away from her chest, feeling like a pervert. Luckily her eyes were glued to the tile in the bathroom.

"I'll bring you a shirt to wear at least, okay?"

Bella just nodded and closed the door behind me after I walked out of the bathroom. Grabbing a random t-shirt from my dresser, I knocked on the door to the bathroom, the shower head was running so I cracked the door and tossed it inside.

I tried to control the images going in and out of my head, Alice as Susie in The Lovely Bones, the big red lump on Bella's face, Bella's flat abs... the urge to want to kill someone was pulsing through my veins. The bruises she had made me really angry, the way I used to get mad when I was a kid and didn't know how to control it. Flinging open the fridge door, I got a container of leftovers from whatever Emmett had for dinner. Just a few minutes later, the door to the bathroom opened up and the small brunette I had just met a few weeks back came into the kitchen.

Her face was pink except for the dull crimson color where she'd gotten hit, Bella had tied her wet hair up, giving me a lazy smile. Her arms were crossed over her chest, the black t-shirt I let her borrow was long on her frame, the sleeves were down to her elbows. "I feel a lot better...except for the throbbing on my face and back of course. "

"C'mon," I tapped the counter again for her to sit up.

She nodded and backed into the counter, trying to pull herself up again, failing. "I'm sorry, I'm too tired," she tried to excuse herself but I could see that her arms were still shaking a little.

"Stop apologizing," I chastised and took a step towards her. Being only a few inches away from her, the heat from the shower warmed her skin and heightened her scent, she smelled just like my shampoo and soap. Wrapping my hands around her hips, I lifted her up onto the counter again easily. Handing over the ice pack again, she pressed it against her cheek without a word.

Moving to stand behind where she was sitting, I pulled up the t-shirt to find that she wasn't wearing her bra anymore. _Stop it_, I told myself. Thinking about bras made me think about boobs and when I thought about boobs in general it would make me wonder what they looked like and that was definitely a road I didn't need to drive on. Bella was my sister's friend, my neighbor. She reached up to hold the t-shirt up by her shoulder blades as I dabbed at her scrapes with antiseptic, she arched her back away from me sucking in a groan.

Bella let out a little whimper when I started rubbing antibiotic onto her wounds. "That really stings," she hissed.

I brushed my fingertips as gently as I could up and down her back to spread the thick substance, her skin broke out in goosebumps "Are you cold?"

"No," she responded softly.

Two small dimples right above the edge of her pants distracted me for a brief second. _Stop it_. "Almost done, Bella."

"Okay," she said through clenched teeth.

Tearing open a new roll of gauze, I cut large squares out of the material to cover where the scratches had bled. Taping it all the way around the white material, I pulled down her shirt and squeezed her tense shoulder. "All done."

She turned to look at me, chin to shoulder, and smiled. I hadn't really noticed how pretty she was until then; I guess I had really only seen big brown hair and big brown eyes but not everything else, besides her abs and breasts a second ago, of course.

"You're great, thank you so much." She told me. Trying to slide off the counter, she landed on her feet and came to stand directly in front of me, fingers twisting her keys in circles. Looking up at me, out of nowhere she wrapped her arms around my ribs, squeezing hard, her head rested right underneath my chin for a moment before she pulled away not giving me a chance to hug her back.

My neck and jaw felt wet from her hair. "Do you want me to walk you to the apartment?"

Bella scowled. "No, I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks, anyway." She edged away from the kitchen, heading towards the front door.

I followed after her, unlocking the door to let her out. "Promise me you won't walk home alone anymore," I said.

"I promise," her face flushed. "Thanks again, Edward."

She walked down the hall, head held down until she made it to her front door. Looking down the hall at me, she waved and gave me a timid smile before going in.

An hour later I got a text message from Alice, _Thanks for helping Bee. You're still a Fuck Face. _

Replying back, _You're welcome, Turtle._

Half an hour later, I get another text, this time from Bella. _Thank you so much AGAIN. Goodnight :)_

This girl is too nice. I can see why Alice likes her so much. _Anytime. Dont walk home alone again! Night._

I spent the rest of the night thinking about how badly I wanted to kick someone's ass. Specifically the piece of shit who would hit a girl and then rob her.

* * *

_Almost done?_ Emmett texts me damn near midnight a couple days later.

Looking around the empty studio, my head hurts from staring at the computer screen for the last five hours without a break. I love mixing but it also makes me want to kill myself. James has got a pretty good voice and I like his guitar melodies, considering I helped him write half of it, but after looping pieces together all night, I hate him and his guitar. Mixing music together is like putting a puzzle piece together.

_Finishing up. What's up?_ I respond back.

His notorious heavy know pounds away at the front door. It consists of three heavy knocks followed by two quick taps, over and over again, until I open it. His massive frames fills the doorframe and before he says anything, he pushes past me inside. "Did you know what happened to Bella?"

Over the twenty years that my friendship with Emmett has spanned, I've seen him pissed and I mean _really_ pissed, about a handful. He's the nicest guy i've ever met in my life and most people would never figure that because they would discriminate against him because of his size. What most people don't know is that Emmett would probably be a kindergarten teacher if he wasn't a fighter... okay, I lie, he would be a kindergarden teacher during the day and a jiu jitsu teacher by night to get his stress out. He was born a fighter, it would be a waste for such a massive, fierce man to not be and the look on his face in this moment, would be maybe the sixth time I've seen him mad.

He's fuming. His wrists are opening and closing, his traps are pulsing, he's pissed.

"Yeah, I saw her the day it happened, Em."

Emmett paws at his face and pulls at his hair. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asks me, his voice gruff. "I was wondering why she cancelled on me for working out the last couple mornings and then I went by her job and they told me she called in. So I go to Alice's to check up on her because I was worried she was sick and you know what? She opens the goddamn door with a huge purple bruise on her face, huge, Edward. Then she pulls up her shirt and shows me her back."

He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it. "I'm going to find out what mother fucker did that and I'm going to kill. I'm going to murder his ass. Rose is going to help me."

I can't help but laugh because really? I could definitely see Rose trying to murder someone. That psycho craves an excuse to inflict harm upon other people. "Calm down, okay? I'm pissed too. I wanted to shake Bella that night. I told her not to walk home by herself that late but she didn't listen and look. But killing someone isn't a good idea either. Let's beat his ass but we'll hold off on the murder."

"Rose wants to shove a dildo in his ass," he chimes in.

I shrug. "Fine by me, but I don't think Bella knows who did it."

Emmett sighed as if resigned. "She doesn't. She said she was too scared to even think about looking him in the face." He let out a puff. "I'm so pissed, man. What if that was Rose or Al?"

"I thought the same thing, Em. Trust me. It makes me sick."

A huge forearm comes to rest on his forehead. "I really like her, Edward. She's such a nice girl. We decided to start taking turns walking home with her or going to pick her up from now on."

I just nod in response. "Let me know if I can help every once in awhile."

He gives me a look out of the corner of his eye but smiles. "C'mon. Get your stuff together. There's this video I want to show you about a guy and a glass jar..."

* * *

"Alice! Hurry up!" I hissed at her.

It was already eight and our breakfast plans with our mom, across town, is for eight-thirty. For some reason Turtle has always thought that I have the ability to teleport because she takes forever to get ready and then expects us to magically get there on time.

"Two more minutes!" She screeches from her bedroom, which means it will actually take her at least five more minutes, give or take five more minutes on top of that.

Trudging over to the couch, I lay back on the cushions and close my eyes. I hate waking up before nine and that's the exact reason I only agree to these breakfasts once a month. The rest of the time, I get them to get together for lunch or dinner. I sit on the couch for God knows how much longer but I'm such it's longer than two minutes.

The door to the bedroom opens up and I look to my right since the back of the couch faces the hallway and kitchen, expecting Alice to appear but it isn't my runt of a sister. It's Bella. Bella in tiny little boy shorts and a tank top that lets me see the outlines of the girls she hides underneath her bra. Half of her flesh is hanging over the top but she has no idea, her eyes are practically closed, a big yellowish-purple bruise under her eye and she's shuffling through the corridor into the kitchen.

I don't want to risk her not being an exhibitionist and being extremely embarrassed by me having seen her goods, so I force myself to face forward again and close my eyes.

All I can see the even with my eyes closed is the buttery expanse of skin that was pushed out of the top of her shirt. _Stop_. I know it's time for me to pick up a girl when I'm going ga-ga over my sister's roommates breasts.

"I'm ready!" Alice finally screeches, her heels tapping against the floor. "Wake up! Let's go! We're running late!" She calls out, already past where I'm sitting.

Forcing myself off the couch, I turn to look in the kitchen but it's empty, the sigh of relief that I let out is too loud. Alice raises an eyebrow at me as she waves me through the door so she can lock it.

We're hustling down the hallway towards the elevator to the garage and she's oddly silent. "Call mom and tell her we're going to be late."

"We'll make it," she immediately dismisses the idea but I can tell she's hustling to get to my car.

Unlocking the black sedan, Alice slides right in before I do and then we're off. The traffic isn't as bad as it usually is considering we live right smack in one of the busiest parts of town. Turning to look at my little sister, she's busying herself by looking at her manicure in silence.

"You okay, Turtle?" I ask.

"Yeah," she practically meows. "She has a nice rack, huh?"

I'm glad that I wasn't drinking anything or I would have spit it out everywhere. "What?"

"Bella? I know you saw her in her undies right now, ass turd. No use in you playing dumb because I already know you are, hello."

"Uh..."

Alice gives me a sickly, sweet smile. It's her satan-like look. "She's a very pretty girl, Edward and you aren't getting any younger..."

"She's not my type. I mean, she's pretty I guess but she's you're roommate." I say the last word like its poison, slithering out of me to kill someone.

"You're an idiot," she deadpans. "Well, whatever."

I don't like the tone in her voice. "Whatever what?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it, if you aren't interested then its your loss, loser. I'll find her someone else that is."

"Go for it," I respond back to her. I don't care. I really don't. She's Alice's roommate. Emmett's friend. Rose's friend. That right there says enough.

"Hmmph," the small black-haired demon next to me muses.

In no time, we manage to snag a spot across the street from the cafe we're meeting Esme at. She's already waiting for us at a table, waving us over. Glancing down at my watch I notice it's only 8:31, how about that.

"Maaaa!" Alice screams out while we manage to cross the street without getting hit by passing cars.

Some things, like Alice, never change.

* * *

There's something really warm resting next to me. Whatever it is smells like lavender and alcohol. Forcing an eye open, the fuschia color of the room is completely foreign to me and my brain feels fogged up, not letting me think clearly. I finally roll over to see flaxen hair covering the black pillowcase next to the one I'm resting on and fuzzy memories of the night before start coming through. I manage to remember going to a new bar with James and meeting up with the petite blonde laying next to me. We drank too much and in my haste to get rid of my boner, I followed her home to take care of my problem.

Small, perky little breasts. A tight little ass and borderline orangey skin filter through my memories after that.

She's dead asleep so I don't bother waking her up to tell her I'm leaving, it's only seven thirty right now and I'd like to avoid the awkwardness that usually follows a one night stand. I got dressed faster than I can even comprehend and was out of her studio apartment even faster. Luckily, she lives on a busy street so its easy to catch a cab back home.

My clothes are wrinkled, face unwashed, and I know I smell like alcohol. The cab driver doesn't even bat an eyelash at my attire as he drives me home.

In a few minutes he's pulling up to my building and I'm handing him a couple of bills. Albert, the security guy, gives me a knowing smile as I walk past him with a "Good morning."

All I want to do is brush my teeth, shower, and sleep in my bed a couple more hours before finishing the last touches on mixing. There's loud music coming from inside the apartment as I unlock the door.

"Two more, big boy!" An amused feminine voice calls out from the living room.

Emmett is on the floor doing crunches, sweat covering every inch of his skin since he's only in basketball shorts. Meanwhile, Bella is squatting in front of him, just as sweaty counting out, "Two... one! Good job!" She holds up her hand for a high five and he slaps it, grinning his Emmett smile, from ear to ear.

The closing of the door brings both of their attentions to me standing there. "Hey guys."

Bella straightens up and smiles, her straight white teeth a deep contrast against the purple bruising of her cheek. "Morning," she says in her sweet voice.

Emmett lets out a cackle. "Walk of shame, douche bag?"

I'm looking at Bella, whose pulling down her shirt, and the happy look on her face momentarily fades before it's plastered back on there. "Something like that." I answer.

Emmett holds out his hands in the air, wiggling his fingers at her, and she laughs, grabbing his gigantic hands in her little baby ones by comparison. She takes a step back to try to pull him up. The big oaf probably weighs at least a hundred pounds more than she does but she doesn't let it stop her from trying to get him up. He finally puts in some effort and stands up. Bella turns to look at me while he wipes the floor with his towel and then himself. "We're going to run with Rosalie, want to come?"

"I really just want to shower and sleep a little more. I kinda feel like shit," I tell her.

She just nods. "That's cool, maybe another time." Bella slaps Emmett on the back of his sweaty ass neck. "Ready to go, big boy?"

"Let's go, Bee." He says, walking toward the door. "See ya later, shithead." He waves at me and so does Bella before walking out.

Turning to look back at the now empty apartment, I grip the back of my neck forgetting what exactly I had planned.


	9. For Everything

FML. I've uploaded this like ten times and it keeps pooping out on me. ANYWAY, I don't know what's come over me but here's another chapter! Not my favorite but it's necessary for the sake of progress. Thank you to everyone who has added ATG to their story alert and favorites!

I own nothing and my mistakes are my own (I'm an impatient shit.)

* * *

It seemed to me that, since I'd moved out to Chicago, I was having an awful lot of bad days.

The bruise on my face had finally faded to a dull, odd shade of yellow. The first day I'd gotten back to the gym, after four days away, Jane threw a huge fit about how dangerous it was for _her_ to walk down the streets after dark and claimed that there was no way she would ever work a closing shift again. So what did management do? They changed her schedule and left mine the exact same way it was- closing three out of five days a week. I wanted to cry out of frustration at the unfairness of the situation but I didn't because I'd be behaving like Jane if that happened.

The only good thing to come out of getting my ass kicked was that clients at the gym must have felt bad for me because I had eight new people sign up for personal training.

Coming off the high I got out of my last training session of the day, I found Emmett standing by the front door talking to Demetri about God knows what.

"Bella Bee, ready to leave?" he called out to me, crossing his massive arms over his equally impressive chest.

Since the incident, he had started putting my schedule down on his calendar- an actual tiny pocket calendar like my Mom used to carry around in her purse. I'd ask him why he didn't put it in his phone and that's when I saw the gigantic monstrosity he called a cell. It looked like one of those huge bricks the first wireless users carried around with them. He insisted that "those fancy new things are too little for my fingers," and I could see where that would be a problem with a Blackberry's tiny keyboard or a touch screen phone. So I kept my joke about his calendar to myself and smiled.

How did I get so lucky?

I felt blessed despite my crap ass days in this new city. When one not-so-awesome thing occurred, another good thing came out of it. It must have been karma working in my favor to make up for the bad things. I tried to be a good person and it pays off most days.

"Yeah, lets go." I answered him, grabbing my brand new purse and slinging it over my shoulder. "Bye Demetri," I waved at him.

"Bye, man." Emmett chimed in, throwing a heavy arm over the top of my shoulder.

Demetri winked at me very languidly, one piercing blue eye flirtatiously saying bye. "Bye Bella."

There was no doubt in my mind that he was attractive but Demetri was a pretty big douche bag. He spent the entire day ogling women at the gym and when he wasn't doing that, he was talking about it. I respected him because the entire time he flirted and courted women, he never changed who he was. You knew what you were getting yourself into with that one.

"How was your day?" I asked the big man next to me.

His smile covered the entire expanse of his face, he was such a happy guy it was hard to picture him beating other men unconscious; according to Alice this had happened a few times. Needless to say I eagerly awaited my chance to see him fight next week in hopes he would do a repeat performance. His originally scheduled fight had been set for almost a month later but another fighter bowed out of one that was going on next week, Rosalie jumped at the chance of scheduling Emmett in the vacant spot. It was more money and more promotion for "The Grizzly." Everyone seemed really excited about it so I figured it was for the best.

"Good, I'm really tired though and Rose wants me to come over tonight," he let out a long and drawn out sigh. "I think she wants to take advantage of me."

I snorted, slapping the back of his arm. "I don't know how she can manage to get through her day without you," I joke.

"You should see the things she texts me."

"No thanks," I grimace but laugh at him. We're right by Edward's studio and I catch Emmett give the building a wistful look as we walk by. "Are you excited about your fight?"

Emmett beamed at me, "I'm ready to destroy the guy. He's a former title holder so this will be a good notch under my belt for the future."

The sound of feet clapping against the ground coming towards us gets louder as the person comes closer. The last time I had someone running towards me, I got mugged so the instinct to turn around with my hands fisted at my sides is at the fore front of my mind. Emmett is a telepath because he turns around faster than any big man should be able to, the muscles of his shoulders and arms tensing up like he's ready to battle an army. I can only imagine what the two of us look like, faces fierce and staring at the walkway behind us, the urge to defend steaming out of us.

I'm David and he's Goliath.

All we face behind us though is Demetri's very buff form running down the street after us, waving what looks like my cell in his hand. "Bella!" He's hollering.

I give Emmett a sidelong glance at the same time he does the same to me. I swear he can read my mind because all I can think about is how we were both ready to kick some asses... well him more so than me. He smiles bashfully and then we're both laughing our asses off at how ridiculous we're acting. Who would be stupid enough to mess with us, and by us I mean him?

Demetri walks to a stop ahead of us, not a drop of sweat on his body. "You left your phone under the counter," he explains handing the small black device to me.

"Thanks," I smile, slipping my phone into my front pocket.

His normally very smug smile is gone and in its place is as close to a shy one as he can probably muster. "I, uh, wanted to know if you'd like to get dinner tomorrow? I get off early and you're off," he drawls out very slowly, looking me straight in the eye.

I'm taken back by the hesitation I see in his baby blues. As cocky as he is at work, that face is gone and I really have no idea what to do. "Uh," I stutter out.

"Pick her up at six, we have plans at eight," Emmett inputs.

I turn to look at him with my mouth wide open, not believing he just agreed for me. The thought flickers across my mind to make up some excuse why I can't go but suddenly, I know I'd feel horrible if I went against what Emmett just said and openly rejected the guy.

Demetri gives Emmett a timid smile at first and then nods in my direction. "Okay, I'll pick you up at six then. Bye," he smiles again and turns around to head back towards the gym.

"What the hell was that?" I ask the mammoth next to me.

Two big brown eyebrows wiggle in my direction. "Free dinner, Bella Bee. You don't say no to free dinner especially with a good looking guy," he informs me.

"Did you just admit that he's hot?"

He shrugs, which consists of large humps on his shoulders ribbed with muscle moving up and down. "I'm secure with my sexuality."

* * *

"-And then Jane let out the loudest, longest queef I've ever heard in my life. I thought she was going to quit from how embarrassed she was," Demetri recounted as he walks me into the elevator leading back up to my apartment.

Dinner together had gone really well. My blue-eyed coworker had made me laugh through the entire meal, telling me really funny stories about things that had happened at the gym before I started working there. He managed to keep the sexual innuendos to a minimum and we laughed at other peoples embarrassment the entire night. The elevator let out its warning ping right before the doors opened and I walked out first, showing him towards my apartment door. I felt his hand lightly graze my lower back as he followed behind me.

"I wish I could've been there to see her face when she did it. I would've died," I said.

He nodded and smiled, a tiny dimple formed on his right cheek. We had just stopped in front of my apartment door, he knew already I had plans with Emmett and the others in half an hour so he'd swore just to drop me off at my door. I turned around to face him, clutching my keys in my hand. He was pretty tall and the sapphire colored shirt he wore set off the light color of his eyes.

"I had a lot of fun," I told him.

"Me too," he said and reached a hand out to brush my hair off my cheek. His eyes were looking up and down, from my eyes to my mouth and back. I didn't really want to kiss him because the risk of creating tension at work was the last thing I needed, I knew Demetri was a ladies man so I didn't have any expectations from him and this date at all. I'd already warned him there was no way in hell he was getting in my pants.

The sound of the deadbolt turning behind my head tore us both out of our talk. I turned my head to face Edward's green eyes and Alice's blue ones staring at us inquisitively.

"Hey guys..." Alice broke the semi-awkward tension. I felt like a kid getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar except this time, I really wasn't trying to steal any cookies.

"Alice, Edward, this is my coworker, Demetri," I introduced them. The Casanova in front of me, shook each of their hands and said hi.

"We're going back to my apartment..." Edward trails off, his eyes locked on the hand barely grazing my back.

Demetri turned to look at me and grinned. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," He leaned in towards me, the smile never leaving his face, and gently pressed his warm lips against my temple. Pulling away, he winked at me. "Goodnight Bella. Bye Alice and Edward," he waves at us before he heading towards the elevator.

Alice's head does that creepy turn like demonic dolls on movies, an over-the-top smile plastered on her face. "What. Was. That?"

"Nothing, we just went to dinner." I answer.

She hooks her arm through mine and starts pulling me down the hall towards Edward and Emmett's apartment, I don't see her brother so I'm left to assume that he's following behind us. "Why didn't you tell me you had a date with a freaking stud muffin?" She does a sort of half meow and growl that makes me laugh and Edward snort from behind us.

"It's not a big deal. I swear. Emmett was with me last night when he asked me out and _he_ said yes. Something about not saying no to a free dinner."

Alice rolls her eyes. "Not surprised. There's not much he wouldn't do for anything free."

We're at the guy's apartment door a second later and Edward unlocks it, opening it up for us to go in first. "Remember that time he took Ms. Miller's old bed because it was free? It had red and yellow stains all over it and he still used it," he shuddered at the memory.

Alice frowns, a visible shudder going down her back as well. "It smelled like pee and baby powder," she says with a dry retch.

She drags me around to the living room where the coffee table has already been cleared and Pictionary is already set up with two chalkboards on opposite sides. I can't remember when the last time I played this was, a faint memory of my Dad, me, and two friends from school playing around the kitchen table flickers in my mind briefly and I have to clear my throat to snap out of it so I don't think of how much I miss him.

"How are we going to play if we're an odd number?" Edward asks from the kitchen. His apartment is set up pretty similar to ours, so the kitchen opens up to the living room.

"We'll play two against three. Emmett says that we cheat when we play together and I swear that you two cheat when you play together, so you can play on the same team with Rose and Bella, and Emmett and I will play together."

He groans, stepping around the couch to sit down on the recliner. "I hate playing with Rose. She says the dumbest shit-"

The apartment door opens up, with Rosalie pushing Emmett out of the way to come in. "I heard that, dip shit," she spits out, giving him the finger. Pulling down the short, black strapless dress she's wearing, Rose looks more like a club goer than a game-night player.

"You know you suck at Pictionary. It's the truth, ask Em."

Emmett is standing with his back to the couch, locking the door. He turns around very slowly, yanking on the collar of his black t-shirt. "Uh..."

In the small amount of time that I've known the big lug, I've learned a few things besides what causes him to let out gas and vomit. He's a terrible liar.

"Shut up," Rosalie hisses, plopping down on the seat to my right. It's at that moment that I catch her attention; her blue eyes narrow and linger over my hair, which is up in a flat ironed ponytail, and my outfit, black skinny jeans and a purple button-up blouse with cap sleeves. "Did you go out?"

The biggest man in the room, more than likely in the entire block, starts grinning like he just found out Chik-Fil-A was giving away chicken sandwiches. "I set her up on a date-"

"With a hot as hell personal trainer." Alice finishes.

I can't help but groan, they're really making this out to be more than it should be. They don't know the Demetri that I do. "It's not a big deal. That guy is like the biggest manwhore at the gym."

Rose stays really quiet and then nods. "Who said you need to be in a committed relationship to get some di-"

"Ready to play?" Edward pipes up from across the coffee table.

* * *

I've gotten drunk exactly three times in my life. Once was prom, the other was Angela's 21st birthday party, and the last was almost two years ago after me and _he who shall not be named_ broke up.

I don't like to drink, I don't like not feeling in control of my actions. With that in mind- I'm a sloppy, overly friendly drunk. So I avoid the embarrassment by just not ever drinking to begin with.

Three of the four other people in the room are wasted. I mean completely fall-off-the-couch, laughing at every damn thing, drunk. I'm really glad Alice and I live down the hall because there's no way I'd be able to get her to walk up or down any steps with how plastered she is. Rose is sitting on Emmett's lap asleep after my team: Edward, Rose, and I, won. Emmett's a sore loser, who would have known? Alice is passed out next to me, snoring very lightly.

My eyes can't stay open and the couch is really warm, not helping my situation at all. Edward is sitting on the recliner, eyes half closed, but I know he's not drunk. All he drank was water all night like I did.

Getting up, I lean over Edward's form to whisper in his ear. I can't help but notice that he smells like he just took a shower. "I'm going to take Alice back ok?" I whisper to avoid waking up Emmett and Rose, inches from his lobe.

"Okay," he answers back softly and I think I feel the brush of something warm against the tops of my kneecaps which are pressed against his jean-clad ones.

Straightening up, I shake Alice's shoulder a little only to have her make a strange noise through her nose. "Wake up!" I say flat against her ear.

Her heads rolls to the side and she opens one ice blue eye in my direction, grunting. "Ughhhh," she moans.

I'm pretty average size and Alice is just plain petite. Grabbing both her hands and pulling her off the coach are remarkably easy because she weighs less than what I squat. She involuntarily wraps an arm around my shoulder and I put an arm around her waist, practically dragging her towards the door. Looking to my side, I pull Alice tighter against me but green eyes come into focus from behind her head. Edward is looking at us very curiously and it makes me feel a little nervous.

"Night," I half whisper and say to him, hustling the inky haired girl along the hall.

"Don't let me drink that much anymore..." she grumbles besides me, her cheek pressed flat against my boob.

* * *

Teresa and I are almost done cleaning up the equipment, so I check my phone again to see if Alice or Emmett have text or called, but they haven't and we're about to lock up. Those two are worse than mother hens. I don't want to call them and ask them if they're coming to walk home with me, in Emmett's case, or if I'll get a ride home, from Alice. I hate being a burden but if I walk home alone... a shiver claws up my spine at the verbal ass kicking they'll both give me.

"Ready, Isabella?" Teresa asks from the closet as she put back all of the cleaning supplies.

Walk home alone. Don't walk home alone.

Walk home alone. Don't walk home alone.

"Let's go," I respond to her, grabbing my keys and heading out. After the door is locked, Teresa and I wave goodbye to each other and I start heading towards the apartment, trying to be uber wary of everything around me.

The street is as dark as it usually is, I half expect the monster from the Mothman Prophecies to appear in the middle of the street, red eyes staring directly at me. _You'll be okay_, I repeat to myself again and again, grabbing my pepper spray from my purse.

"What the fuck are you doing?" A rich voice asks from behind me.

Clutching the little bottle in my hand, I whip around, finger nestling onto the button that will let out the gas. Familiar green eyes look back at me, dark and upset. "Hey," I try to say as nonchalantly as possibly but my heart is beating to fast and loud against my chest, I'm pretty sure everyone on the block can hear it.

"What the hell are you thinking?" His voice sounds like venom against the calm, cool air.

"I'm just walking home..."

Edward's hand, a large thing with perfect lithe fingers, wraps around my forearm, directing me down the street. "You're walking home alone, Bella. You know you can't be doing this anymore. What if you get mugged?"

"I didn't have anyone else to walk home with me," I try to explain.

He's not hearing any of it though. "You want that guy to come and get you with that knife again? Use it on you instead of your purse next time?"

The pressure on my arm from his grip isn't tight but it's firm, like a manacle that won't let me stray too far. He's hauling me down the street faster than I've ever gone and I'm glad for a moment that I do obscene amounts of cardio. "What was I supposed to do? Wait at the gym forever?"

"Get a cab!" He replies, his voice is colder than I've ever heard it before, he sounds detached. "You have to think, Bella!"

"That guy...any guy... could do anything to you if they wanted to. Do you think I want to find you in a safe one day? Raped and mutilated?" He keeps going and I have no idea why he's talking about a safe and me getting raped and murdered.

"Bella, you have to think about what you do! This city isn't very safe," his deep voice implores me but my mind is stuck.

I don't want to die that death. I miss Phoenix. I miss driving home. I could try to drive home but parking is so expensive that idea immediately goes through the window.

Then I think of my Dad and the way his mustache would twitch when he was upset about something. He'd be livid if I were walking home alone. He'd probably kill me himself.

Edward is rambling about death and some girl named Susie but my mind is on dying; whether it was something you asked for or were given, it sucked. Tears started pooling in my eyes as my feet help lead us towards the apartment building. I think he's asking me something but I'm not sure.

Finally stopping right before our building, Edward thrusts a hand out against my shoulder to stop me. "Are you crying?" He asks.

A soft heat travels down my cheek and a tiny splash hits my collarbone and I realize that yes, I am crying. "I don't- I don't like- I don't like feeling unsafe," I bumble out, my words choppy from the tears that had magically appeared in my eyes out of nowhere. "I didn't ask to get mugged."

His long frame stands directly in front of me, he's so tall his head is cocked down so he can see my face. His eyes search mine and he lets out a drawn out sigh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you." His hands come up to rest on my shoulders, his thumbs pressed into the area by my collarbone. "I don't know what;s wrong with me, I saw you walking alone and I just got mad."

I just nodded, looking down at my dark gray tennis shoes. "It's okay, you're right. I'm stupid, I shouldn't be walking home alone." I hiccuped a little, holding back more tears.

"Hey," he pressed the pads of his fingers into my back. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I don't know why I'm so upset. I mean, I do, I just thought about what you said with the knife and it scares the shit out of me."

His right hand slides across my shoulder blades to the opposite side and Edward pulls me against him, wrapping his arms around me close enough to where my my cheek is against the cotton material of his hoodie and his chin is resting on top of my head but the rest of our parts are still a mere inch or two away. The only thing I can think of when I'm this close to him is how warm he is and how much I like how he smells. "I'm a dick, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay," I try to assure him.

He pats my back very gently, drawing us away from each other a moment later. The grim look on his face is the same as the one he gave Alice last week after they got home from breakfast with their mom only to have Alice break her heel on the walk back to the apartment when Edward tripped her. "No it's not okay."


	10. That Makes You Weak

I tried uploading this bad boy at least eight times yesterday to no avail. I should've done some proofreading to it but I didn't have time, so I'll apologize for my mistakes in advance. Thank you to everyone who has added the story to an alert or favorite and for my reviews! You're awesome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I own a psychotic dog though.

* * *

"Al!" My right fist banged on the door to her apartment in sync with my yells.

I'd already been out here for at least five minutes, banging, screaming, and kicking at the door for my pain in the ass sister to open up. The last thing I needed was for her not to be home right now. It was already after five so she should have made it back from work by now.

Let me make one thing straight: I don't _ever_ forget things. Ever.

So imagine how pissed I got when I walked out of the studio without my keys and cell phone. I didn't even leave for a good reason, some people were fighting outside the building and my nosey ass decided to go out and see what was going on. Two women were outside pulling at each others hair, screaming things about cunts and bitches.

I thought it was funny.

Not funny enough to get locked out of my apartment and workplace though.

Without even a fucking cell to call Emmett or Turtle, I was stuck.

"God damnit! Turtle!" I banged on the door again.

"One second!" A voice called out from the recesses of the apartment.

Relief flooded through me in an instant at the response. "About fucking time! I've been out here forever! What were you doing? Painting your toe nails-"

The door swung open to reveal a Bella. Not a Turtle. What made this Bella worthy of not finishing my sentence, besides the fact that I meant to be talking shit to Al and not her, was the fact that she was standing in front of me wet. _Wet_.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she said softly bringing a bare arm up to push her very damp hair over a shoulder so that the mahogany ends rested on the top of the towel she had wrapped around herself. "I was showering," she explained.

As if the droplets of water all over her bare shoulders and arms weren't a telltale sign. Did I forget to mention she only had a towel wrapped around herself?

"It's fine, I'm sorry for disrupting your..." I pointed at her towel.

Bella blushed furiously which was interesting because her skin was already pink from her shower, and fully opened the door, waving me in. "Yeah, I should go get dressed. I'll be back."

She gave me a goofy smile and turned to head through the living room to her bedroom, the purple towel she had on was dangerously short in the back. I thought back at the last time that I'd seen her and how I snapped at her when I caught her walking home alone. Something in me had just screamed at how reckless she was being and I'd taken it out on her. Running a hand through my hair, I went into the kitchen to see what was in the fridge. Surprisingly empty considering Alice was anal about always having her favorites around when she was hungry, I closed it and started looking through their cabinets.

"Are you hungry?" The same sugary voice from a couple of minutes ago asked from behind.

"Yeah," I responded a little snappier than I meant to. I knew it wasn't her fault I was pissed off about getting locked out, leaving my cell, skipping lunch, and then having your sister and best friend be missing.

"I haven't bought groceries and neither has Alice... but I just ordered Chinese, if you want some?"

Closing the cabinet, I turned to look at my sister's roommate. Her dark hair was tied up in a wet knot on top of her head with a thick purple headband holding it away from her face. Her lavender v-neck shirt looked really nice against the slightly tan skin I'd never really paid attention to.

"If you don't mind. I'm starving."

She smiled and nodded, stepping around the counter to grab a glass and fill it with ice. "You know where everything is at so don't expect me to serve you a beverage or anything," she snickered, her eyes glittering with humor.

"Did you just say beverage?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

I snorted a little, trying to remember the last time I'd heard that word be used besides on restaurant menus. "I don't know, it just sounds funny coming out of your mouth."

"Refreshment?"

It was my turn to snicker. "Just as bad."

She giggled, heading back around to sit on one of their stools by the counter. "I'm going to ask if you want any Grey Poupon next, be prepared."

"Oh God," I couldn't help but laugh. "Do you drink cubed sugar with your coffee?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "Of course, that's the only way to do it."

Knocking from the front door interrupted our laughing as Bella excused herself and hopped off the stool in the direction of the door. Quiet voices murmured for a moment before I heard a "Thank you," followed by the deadbolt on the front door.

Holding a bag with what looked like a few little white containers, she laid them against the laminate of the counter. "Before you judge me, I always buy more than I can eat to have leftovers, alright?"

"I'd hope so," I joked with her, watching as she pulled out the last of the cardboard containers with a small smile on her face.

After grabbing plates for both of us, we sat down on the couch next to each other with our drinks and dinner. Neither one of us said anything for the first few minutes, I could tell she was shoveling food into her mouth as fast as I was which made me laugh.

"What?" Bella asked with one neat eyebrow raised.

"I don't think I've ever seen a girl eat like that."

She froze, her fork loaded with lo mein a couple inches from her face, and snorted. "Wow." She snorted again but louder. "I need to fuel my muscles." She flexed the arm that was busy shoveling food in her mouth, her small biceps bulging under her thin shirt.

"You're pretty fucking diesel, Bella." I told her because she really was. For being such a small girl, she was pretty ripped.

A gigantic smile crossed her face reveling perfect, white teeth under her pink lips. "Thanks!"

"Have you always been into working out?"

She shrugged, picking up another container with what looked like beef and broccoli. "Yeah, I guess so. I swam and played softball from six until high school ended, so I've always just been athletic. You? Play any sports?"

I reached out for the container of lo mein she had put down and peered into it. I really wasn't the kind of person to share plates with people I didn't really know too well, Emmett and Al were my exceptions because they'd been around forever. Twirling my fork in the noodles, I damned the notion and shoved the food in my mouth.

"I've played soccer and some form or another of martial arts my entire life." I said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot Emmett told me he met you in class. Do you spar or whatever anymore?"

"Every once in awhile... more like a couple times a month," I laughed. "I'm just so busy working all the time, I can barely squeeze in a run and weights a couple times a week."

After a few more minutes of asking each other random questions I learned that Bella moved from Phoenix, hated mushrooms, had never seen snow, and could eat more steamed riced than Emmett.

"So how do you know about Meshuggah?" I asked her, remembering our conversation from a week or so before.

She grimaced which made her nose wrinkle. "An ex of mine was...really into that kind of music and it just grew on me. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed real musicianship until then."

"Favorite album?"

"Don't have one. You?"

I had to think about the answer for a moment. "Yeah, I don't have one either. They're all really good."

Bella stood up, brushing crumbs from her worn in jeans. She started collecting the three empty containers we'd eaten through. "Did you know they're coming to Chicago next month? I was planning on buying a ticket to go."

"Yeah, I managed to get a pass from someone I know who works at the venue." I said, wiping off the crumbs from the table to put in the trash. I knew there was no way in hell Alice would agree to go with her and Emmett's schedule was pretty erratic sometimes so I felt a little bad imagining her going to that kind of concert by herself. She'd already seen some of the worse this city, well any city really, held. "We could ride up together maybe?"

"Cool, I'm really excited. I'm sure it'll be awesome," she cooed and rinsed off the forks we'd been using before putting them in the dishwasher.

"I'm producing an album for a band that's kind of a rip-off of them in a couple of months, you could drop by if you want. They're pretty decent."

She opened her mouth like she wanted to ask me something but didn't. "Sweet, just remind me when you start. Are you done mixing already?"

"Yeah, it took me forever but I'm glad to be done with it. I get a couple days off and then I have another recording set to start on Monday for a jazz band."

"So you'll be going with us to Emmett's fight?" she asked, turning around to face me.

I nodded. "I never miss his fights."

I didn't fail to notice the slightly surprised look on her face. How long had she been living with Alice now? A month or so? It had to be long enough to notice my absence in Al and Emmett's day to day life. They understood I was a workaholic and tried to hang out with them when I wasn't busy. We'd had game night last week, when Bella, Rose, and I killed Alice and Emmett at Pictionary before they got drunk off beer and wine.

"That's really nice of you." She said. "I told him he needs to annihilate the guy."

A memory of Emmett threatening to kill the guy who mugged her flashed through my brain and I bit back a laugh. "He will, don't worry."

* * *

The thing with being a workaholic is that once you don't have any work, even if for a short period of time, you find yourself at a loss as to how to fill your time.

I was antsy and maybe a little irritating.

Emmett was in "Bear Mode" as he liked to call it. Bear Mode, according to his explanation, happened a week before any of his fights. He would train damn near the entire day, watched every calorie he inhaled, suspended Rosalie from any "loving," and pretty much just got his mindset into ass-kicking mode. It was intense for everyone that was close to him because his personality changed instantly. His transformation from Emmett into "The Grizzly" took place over the course of that week.

Problem with Bear Mode, is that is coincided with my time off from work so I was bored out of my mind without my best friend, my only friend really, to harass me. I know a lot of people but they were mainly just acquaintances, with them it was always a give-and-take relationship. It also didn't help at all that by nature, I'm not a very trusting person.

The next few days between my first day finished with James' project and Em's fight was filled with going to visit my parents a couple of times, forcing Turtle to go watch a couple of movies with me, sitting at home watching television, and going to run and lift weights at Em's school. It was nice but my hands itched the entire time, ready to work.

Alice and I finally bought our tickets to Canada to see Emmett fight because there had been a lot of speculation whether the event was actually going to happen in Vancouver or not. Turtle packed my bag because she said she didn't want me to embarrass her by wearing something that didn't match, which never happens but I wasn't going to argue with her about it. Our flight was for Friday afternoon since Em's match was Saturday night. After I grabbed my suitcase and rolled down the hallway to make sure that Turtle, Satan, and Bella were almost ready to go.

The three of them were sitting in the living room, suitcases neatly lined up by the door ready to go for the first time I could ever remember. I stood there in awe.

"Is this a dream?" I asked.

Rosalie's eyes narrowed in my direction. "Why?"

"Because you and Al are never, ever ready to go on time." I huffed a few times and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Did you use your evil powers to make hell freeze over?"

"Fuck you, Edward," she spat out with a laugh.

Alice's inky black head made it's way over to me, as she shoved at my chest. "Let's go."

The ride to the airport was quiet except for Rose and Turtle's constant yap about wedding plans, I looked in the rearview mirror once to see that Bella was just staring out the window looking at the buildings. We parked my car at the lot and took the shuttle to the airport, checked in and then headed towards the terminal to wait. Alice and Rosalie plopped down on two seats together, pulling out a magazine that Rose had bought at one of the stands. The seats next to them were taken but the ones across weren't so Bella and I sat on those.

My phone was in my hand a second later, scrolling through the games on there, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bella pull out a book and start leafing through it. "What are you reading?"

"Marley and Me," she said with a smile, showing me the cover. "It makes me cry every time."

"I saw the movie," I offered remembering Alice forcing me to go watch it with her.

She leaned towards me just an inch, her dark hair falling in loose waves over her shoulder. "The book is better."

"The book doesn't have Jennifer Aniston in it."

She scowled. "I guess. I'm more of a Luke Wilson fan than an Owen WIlson fan." Her dark eyebrows waggled.

"Bella, trade seats with me?" Alice asked from across the walkway, puppy dog eyes on exhibit. When we'd bought the tickets, Alice and I had chosen ours next to each other and Rose and Bella's side by side.

"Yeah, sure," she responded and went back to reading her book.

After the attendant started calling out groups to board, the four of us made our way into line with Alice elbowing me behind her, stating "Ladies first, fucker."

So once we were on the plane and she was having problems putting her suitcase into the overhead, I muttered "Ladies first," in a nasally voice.

Bella was standing right in front of me and turned her head just a little to look at me with a smirk of amusement on her face. "I'll help you," she said turning to look at my sister. She took the bag from her and slid it into the overhead along with her own.

Alice stood there, rolling her eyes before settling down onto her new seat. "What a gentleman, can't even help putting our luggage up."

Bella stooped to settle into the window seat, leaving me the aisle seat thankfully. It was hard enough to sit on a plane without being able to stretch my legs out. She started digging through her purse and got out a pack of gum, holding it up to me. "Want one? My ears always pop on flights."

I took a stick and smiled at her in thanks, noticing that she didn't get a piece for herself despite her words.

The plane was pretty full considering it was a Thursday afternoon but everyone was settled down in no time with the flight attendants asking passengers to fasten their seatbelts to prepare for take off. I caught Bella closing her eyes and whispering something under her breath, the only thing I caught was an "Amen" at the very end.

She turned to give me a sleepy smile, her dark eyes were hooded. "Wake me up if I start to snore okay?" She rested her arm on the armrest next to mine, warm flesh pressed against my cooler one, before she shifted her position to rest her forehead on the paneling next to the window.

It was usually pretty hard for me to fall asleep on planes, so I was a little jealous that we hadn't even taken off and she was already dead to the world.

* * *

"Can I buy you a drink?" A low, husky voice asked from behind my left shoulder.

Turning to peer at the origin of the question, heavy hazel eyes were zeroed in on me with a sly grin on pale skin. The redhead was pretty, maybe in her mid or late twenties, with some of that smokey make up that Alice always wore smeared all over her eyes. I did have my own room for the trip, the three girls deciding to squeeze into a room together, but hazel eyes looked pretty drunk already. "I'm not drinking tonight but thanks." I motioned towards my clear cup of water.

She raised a delicate brown eyebrow almost as if she couldn't believe that I had told her no. "Want to dance?"

The club where we had agreed to meet at was only a block down from the hotel. I tried to look at the bar as discreetly as I could, hoping that Alice would hurry the hell up. She had walked down with me while Bella waited for Rose to finish getting ready. I knew my sister's shower-hogging tendencies so I wasn't at all surprised that they were ready at 9 like we had talked about. "No, I'm actually waiting for..."

"Hey baby," a voice I was all too familiar with cooed from my ear. A light arm wrapped around my lower back and a sloppy wet kiss was planted on my bicep. Vomit started coming up, I could taste the acid in the back of my throat.

Hazel eyes shrugged and walked away after staring at my companion up and down. Crazy black hair came into view with a frown plastered all over her features. "I hate doing that."

I nodded. "I threw up a little in my mouth," I told Alice, returning her frown.

"You're welcome, ass turd. I don't want you to catch herpes from some hussy our first trip out to Canada," she laughed.

"I always wrap it up," I deadpanned watching her face pale and her shoulders visibly shudder.

"Fucking disgusting," she hissed, her attention already moved to the entrance to the club. "Thank God, they're here."

A few seconds later, I felt cold fingers scrape the back of my neck before they pinched the skin. "Hey bitch," Rose chortled, coming around to stand next to Turtle.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in anything but pants or shorts," Alice huffed with pride at the person behind me, which could only be Bella.

"Well... when I saw what both of you were wearing, I knew I couldn't wear jeans."

Her slim figure made its way between Alice and Rose and I think my body sucked in a breath on its own reasoning. The black dress wasn't as short as Rosalie's but it hit her mid thigh, exposing the long, slender muscles of her thighs and calves. The top half of it just had one shoulder, with the material bunching up to connect there, fitting her like a glove. Her normally wavy hair was straight and her long bangs were swept to the side by her hand. She gave me a little smile and even though it was dark in the room, I could tell her cheeks reddened but I wasn't sure if she had caught me looking at her or not.

"I want to dance, let's go," Alice exclaimed just as the music in the club got significantly louder and the three of them slid into the crowd just a few feet away.

I felt like a guard dog from where I was standing at the edge of the mass of people, just watching the three of them dance. I could only see the top of Rose's head because she was taller than most of the men in the club but on occasion I caught a glimpse of Al and Bella's shorter heads. After who knows how long, a really cute blonde came up to me and just started talking to me about how hot it was in there and other random things. I knew her game though, every chance she got, she'd brush her hands across my forearm or sway towards me.

The conversation lasted a little too long because by the time I managed to look back over in the direction that Rose was at last, she was at the edge of a really small circle with Alice in the middle of it with none other than the redhead from earlier. "Fuck," I said to myself walking away from the blonde in the middle of her sentence and shouldered my way over to where they were standing.

"...don't get to fucking dance with him when you're boyfriend is over there, slut!" the husky voice shrieked from feet away.

"I can dance with whoever I want." Alice's squeaky voice replied.

I was still about a dozen feet away from them when Rosalie huffed, "C'mon Al, that bitch isn't worth it."

Alice nodded, still facing the hazel eyed woman. "You're right," she agreed.

What happened next was so fast, I closed my eyes in bed later on trying to recreate it. The redhead lunged at my sister then, slapping her clear across the face. Alice stepped back, holding her cheek dumbly, staring at the redhead like she couldn't believe what had just happened. The redhead stepped forward to try to repeat the slap but out of nowhere, well actually from next to Rose, Bella stepped forward and slapped her _hard._ I could hear the snap of palm across skin like a thunderclap in the club. Bella reached to grab the woman's loose hair and pulled it.

A loud "oooh" fluttered across the crowd of spectators but I tried to ignore it, finally making my way through the mass at the same time the bouncer did. The bouncer went straight for the redhead and I went for Bella, who still had a death grip on the girl's hair, the index finger from her other hand pressed right into her forehead. "Don't you dare ever lay a hand on her, you fucking bitch," she snapped, giving another yank to the red blob of hair.

I wrapped an arm around Bella's waist, pulling her away from the object of her anger, her usually bright brown eyes looked haunted and pretty fucking feral. "Let's go," I whispered into her ear, as the bouncer grabbed the redhead and started dragging her towards the exit. Bella didn't move, her eyes glued to the female who had just gotten her ass handed to her, her body was rigid against mine and I thought of a lioness protecting her cubs. "Bella, we need to go before he comes back," I whispered to her again, tightening my grip against her waist until she slackened and nodded.

"Turtle, Rose, let's go," I yelled at them. They stayed frozen in their spots, Al still palming her cheek and Rose looked like she had won a Golden Globe or something.

I held Bella against my side as I pushed through the crowd of curious onlookers, to the front door. The last thing I wanted was for her or Rose to get into a fight with one of the redhead's friends before we left. She was really, really warm and a little sweaty through her dress. Her fingers clung to the side seam of my shirt as she huddled against me, making room through the crowd. Once we were outside, the air was pretty cool against how hot I was. Bella pulled away from me once we were out, and pushed the hair that had plastered itself against her face away, her eyes locked on mine. She looked so sad for some reason. I'd seen Rose get into fights before and she fucking beamed afterward, but Bella looked embarrassed and maybe a little uncomfortable.

"What the fuck was that!" Rose whooped from behind us breaking our trance.

Alice fucking skipped towards Bella, completely oblivious to the pain I'm sure was pounding away at her cheek. Her wide glacial eyes were sparkling with love and admiration at her newest friend. "Bella," was the one and only thing that came out of her mouth before she threw her bird-like arms around Bella's frame and squeezed the shit out of her.

"She beat her ass!" Satan howled, making laps in her heels around the two girls. She stopped in front of me with a crazed, bloodlust look in her blue eyes. "Who knew she had it in her?" She asked but didn't wait for an answer.

I kept my eye on Bella as we walked back to the hotel, Rose blabbering about wanting to call Emmett and tell him how his Bee almost broke a girl cheekbone. Alice just held her hand, silently. Bella looked really withdrawn on the way back which just confirmed that something in her had probably snapped, like I thought. I wanted to ask her but knew I shouldn't. I wasn't the type to snoop in anyone's business...but Turtle was, so I resolved myself to ask her about it later.

It was already a little after midnight once we got back to our rooms and I was too riled up to go to sleep. I was extremely overprotective of Turtle but I'd never hit a girl unless it was absolutely necessary, so I was really glad that she had two friends who would stand up for her. Alice was much more of a lover than a fighter but I knew she could kick her own amount of ass if needed. Glancing at my watch, I remembered there was a bar downstairs in the lobby and headed down there hoping a drink would help calm me down enough to sleep.

The small piano bar was right off the lobby, it was pretty empty with only a couple people right by the bar and others seated on the small tables close by. Walking to the bartender, familiar mahogany hair caught my attention from the very end of the bar. The form was slumped over, a pretty, black dress covering very little of the small body. Sliding into the seat next to hers, I caught her tracing the outline of the rim of her glass with her finger.

"Hey," I said softly.

She turned to me, tossing her long hair now in a ponytail, over her shoulder. Her wide russet eyes were rimmed in red like she'd been crying. "Hi," she said so low I almost didn't hear her.

"What are you doing down here?"

She shrugged and pointed at the half empty glass on the counter. "I needed a drink."

I knew something was wrong, my gut had told me after she slapped her that something was going on. "You don't drink though."

"I know, it tastes like shit." She replied.

"Then don't drink it," I said. "What's wrong?"

Bella let out a deep sigh, staring straight ahead at the bottles that were lined up on the wall. "Nothing. Girl stuff."

"Don't give me that shit, I saw the look on your face. What's wrong?"

She stayed quiet for a few moments, her lip between her teeth. Whatever she talked herself through came out in my favor because she tilted her head a little to look at me with her watery eyes. Up close, I realized just how pretty she was. Her skin was really clear and her mouth was the perfect shade of pink, full, and pouty. She closed her eyes while facing me, her long dark eyelashes brushed against her cheeks as she let out another sigh and opened them. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

I looked from one brown iris to the other, trying to understand why she would ask me to do that. "I promise."

The intensity of her gaze was unrelenting and sad. "I dated this guy for a couple of years when I was having a really tough time in my life. My dad had just gotten diagnosed with lung cancer and I felt really down with myself and the situation. I like to think that if I would've been in my right mind, then I would've seen how much of a piece of shit he was but maybe not. Anyway, right after my dad died, I was living by myself and this guy just got crazy jealous. I couldn't do anything without him thinking that I was off fucking someone else. Things just went from bad to worse and one day," she sucked in a breath, her eyes locked on mine and my stomach did a heavy turn like I knew what she was going to say next. "He slapped me. It only happened a few times but I can't forgive myself for letting him do that to me once. I felt so pathetic until I came to terms with the fact that he had no right to do that. Then we broke up, he went psycho, blah blah blah. I moved on with my life."

My fists started opening and closing on their own, my spine was ramrod straight and I forced myself to take a few deep breaths as I absorbed what she told me. Someone hit her. Someone she knew and probably loved, hurt her. My heart started hammering against the cage of my ribs painfully. How could someone do that?

A small hand, touched my forearm. "I promised myself I would never let anyone hurt someone that I love. When that girl hit Alice I just fucking snapped, thinking about Pe- my ex doing that to me." Her voice was soft and sweet against my ear. She stroked her fingers against my arm over and over again like she was trying to calm me. "It was a long time ago, don't be upset."

I wanted to ask her how she could possibly ask me to not be upset about a man taking advantage of a female? A girl that the people I loved the most cared about? She was an annex of them. Bella had defended my sister like a real friend would because a part of her loved her. I tried to focus on her warm fingers dancing across my skin, steadying my breathing. She was so close to me I could smell the sweet scent of fruit that she used as body lotion or perfume. It reminded me of mangos and berries.

"Hey, it's fine. I'm a better person because of it."

My nostrils flared. "I just-" I thought of what I wanted to tell her but couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. Feeling like an asshole because here we were and she was trying to comfort me about something that someone did to her. "I'm sorry that it happened to you, Bella."

"Me too," she said quietly.

I opened my eyes to find her searching her face. "Did you ever call the police?"

"No, I was too embarrassed. My dad was a cop, so if his friends found out... I just didn't want to deal with it."

We sat in silence a few minutes, I asked the bartender for scotch, and we just sat there longer. "I didn't know your dad died."

"Yeah, a little over a year ago. He was a smoker," she said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Bella." I pulled at her ponytail again. "How did you get down here without the goof troop?"

She snorted a little, taking a sip of her drink and making a face. "I told them I was going to your room," she said ruefully.

Bella waited for me to finish my drink and pay, before we made our way over to the elevator to go up. There was already a group of drunk college-age guys standing by the doors waiting and as we walked up, their loud jeering quieted down. Their eyes were all fixed on her form, it didn't help that they were drunk, but they looked like wolves waiting for their prey. Bella turned to look at me, ignoring the guys, but I caught her trying to pull down the hem of her dress. My eyes raked over her black heels which only helped elongate her slender, powerful legs.

The ding of the elevator brought everyones attention back around. The guys filed in first, pressing tightly against the back wall leaving only a small corner right at the front. Bella motioned for me to go first, so I stepped into the spot before she followed after me, squeezing her way so that she stood directly in front of me, her ass smashed against my sleepy cock. There really wasn't enough space for her there but I couldn't blame her for not wanting to stand in front of the douche bag who had obviously been hoping to have her right there.

She pressed the button for the twelfth floor after the college kids pressed the sixth and fourteenth floor.

Her ass was tight and warm against my crotch, her shoulder blades pressed against my chest from the lack of room in the elevator. Neither one of us said anything as only two of the college kids got off on the sixth floor. I felt Bella shift a little, the seam of her ass sliding right over where my dick was now waking up from the heat pressed against it. I tried to ignore her standing there, I really did.

When the elevator doors finally opened, I practically pushed her out, shuffling my feet after her.

Fortunately Bella didn't say anything as we stopped at her hotel room, which was across the walkway from mine. She just turned to look at me, her eyes still a little red and gave me a wary smile. "Please don't tell anyone, okay?" She pleaded and I only nodded. "Goodnight." Bella hesitated for a second before turning to swipe her card through the reader on the door.

She closed the door behind her and I stood there a second longer wondering how this poor girl ended up with such shitty luck.


End file.
